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COMMITTEE    ON    ALLEGED    GERMAN    OUTRAGES. 


FROM    THE    PRESIDENT'S    OPFICE 
TO  THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

REPORT  OP   THE   uuiyimiTTEE 


ON 

ALLEGED    GERMAN    OUTRAGES 

APPOINTED   BY 

HIS  BRITAMIC  MAJESTY'S  GOYEENMENT 

AND    PRESIDED    OVER    BY 

The  Right  Hon.  VISCOUNT  BRYCE,  O.M.,  &c.,  &c. 

Formerly  British  Ambassador  at   Washington. 


-  'nn«:\  amj*  i» 


WITH    COMPLIMENTS   OF 

Sir  Gilbert  Parker 

20  CARLTON   HOUSE  TERRACE 
LONDON,  S.  W. 

NEW    YORK, 

i 

-jifc,  **«ited  in  Itm-'l'^" "" 

HIST«AJESTY'S    STATIONERY    OFFICE,    LONDON. 


COMMITTEE    ON    Af.LEGED    GERMAN    OUT  If  A  (IKS. 


EEPORT   OF  TI[E  COMMITTEE 


ON 


ALLEGED    GERMAN    OUTRAGES 


APPOINTED    BY 


HIS  BRITANNIC  MAJESTY'S  GOVERNMENT 


AND    PRESIDED    OVER    BY 


The  Right  Hox.  VISCOUNT  BRYCE,  O.M.,  &c.,  &c. 

Furmerli/   British  Ambassador  at    JrashiiKjton. 


PUBLISHED    BY    MACMILLAN    AND    COMPANY,    NEW    YORK. 


~^\.\^ 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Warrant  of  Appointment 2 

Introductory  Observations 3 

Part  1.— CONDUCT   OF   GERMAN   TROOPS   IN  BELGIUM  9 

Liege  and  District 10 

Valleys  of  the  Meuse  and  Sambre 14 

The   Aerschot,   Malines,   Vilvorde  and  Louvain   Quad- 
rangle   -        -  20 

Louvain 29 

Termonde 36 

Alost 37 

Part  II.— BREACHES   OF   RULES  AND  USAGES  OF  WAR 
AND    ACTS    OF    INHUMANITY    IN    INVADED 

TERRITORIES 45 

1,  Treatment  of  the  Civil  Population      -        -        -        -  45 

(a)  Killing  of  Non-Combatants 45 

(b)  Treatment  of  Women  and  Children     -        -        -  47 

(c)  The  Use  of  Civilians  as  Screens   -        -        -        -  53 

(d)  The  Looting,  Burning,  and  Destruction  op  Pro- 

perty        54 

2.  Offences  against  Combatants 56 

(a)  Killing  the  Wounded  or  Prisoners      -        -        -  56 

(b)  Firing  on  Hospitals 58 

(c)  Abuse  op  Red  Cross  and  White  Flag    -        -        -59 

CONCLUSIONS 60 


o    (33)28300     21,000    4/15     E&S  A  2 

306141 


WARRANT    OF    APPOINTMENT. 


I  hereby  appoint — 

Tin:  UioiiT  Hon.  Viscodnt  imYCE,  O.M.; 

Tin;    KhiifT    Hon.    8111    FREDERlCMv    POELOOTn,    Bt., 
K.(\; 

Tin:  IhGUT  Hon.  Sir  EDWARD  CLARKE,  K.C. ; 

Sir  ALFRED  HOPKINSON,  K.C.  ; 

Mr.  H.  a.  L.  fisher,  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  University 
of  Sheffield ;  and 

lyiR.  HAROLD  COX ; 

to  be  a  Committee  to  consider  and  advise  on  the  evidence 
collected  on  behalf  of  His  Majesty's  Government  as  to  outrages 
alleged  to  have  been  committed  by  German  troops  during  the 
present  War,  cases  of  alleged  maltreatment  of  civilians  in  the 
invaded  territories,  and  breaches  of  the  laws  and  established 
usages  of  war ;  and  to  prepare  a  report  for  His  Majesty's 
Government  showing  the  conclusion  at  which  they  arrive  on 
the  evidence  now  available. 

And  I  appoint  Viscount  Bryce  to  be  Chairman,  and 
Mr.  E.  Grimwood  Mears  and  Mr.  W.  J.  H,  Brodrick,  barristers- 
at-law,  to  be  Joint  Secretaries  to  the  Committee. 

(Signed)        H.  H.  ASQUITH. 

15th  December  1914. 

Sir  KENELM  E.  DIGBY,  K.C,  G.C.B.,  was  appointed  an 
additional  member  of  the  Committee  on  22nd  January  1915. 


'l\>  llic  Right  Jlonotirablc  II.  M.  Asi,)i'iiii,  iScc,  iNcc,  First 
Lord  of  ll.M.  Treasury. 

Tlie  Committee  have  tlie  honour  to  j^resent  and  transmit  \n 
you  a  report  upon  the  evidence  whicii  lias  been  submitted  to 
them  regarding  outrages  alleged  to  have  been  conunitted  by 
tlie  (}erman  troops  in  the  present  wai-. 

By  the  terms  of  tlieir  appointment  the  Committee  were 
directed  "to  consider  and  advise  on  the  evidence  collected  on 
behalf  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  as  to  outrages  alleged  to 
have  been  conunitted  by  German  troops  during  the  present 
war,  cases  of  alleged  maltreatment  of  civilians  in  the  invaded 
territories,  and  breaches  of  the  laws  and  established  usages  of 
war  ;  and  to  prepare  a  report  for  His  Majesty's  Government 
showing  the  conclusion  at  which  they  arrive  on  the  evidence 
"  now  available." 

It  may  be  convenient  that  before  proceeding  to  state  how  we 
have  dealt  with  the  materials,  and  what  are  the  conclusions  Ave 
have  reached,  we  should  set  out  the  manner  in  which  the 
evidence  came  into  being,  and  its  nature. 

In  the  month  of  September  1914  a  Minute  was,  at  the 
instance  of  the  Prime  Minister,  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the 
Home  Secretary  and  the  Attorney-General.  It  stated  the  need 
that  had  arisen  for  investigating  the  accusations  of  inhumanity 
and  outrage  that  had  been  brought  against  the  German  soldiers, 
and  indicated  the  precautions  to  be  taken  in  collecting  evidence 
that  would  be  needed  to  ensure  its  accuracy.  Pursuant  to  this 
Minute  steps  were  taken  under  the  direction  of  the  Home  Office 
to  collect  evidence,  and  a  great  many  persons  who  could  give  it 
were  seen  and  examined. 

For  some  three  or  four  months  before  the  appointment  of 
tlie  Committee,  the  Home  Office  had  been  collecting  a  large 
body  of  evidence.*  More  than  1,200  depositions  made  by  these 
witnesses  have  been  submitted  to  and  considered  by  the  Com- 
mittee. Nearly  all  of  these  were  obtained  under  the  supervision 
of  Sir  Charles  Mathews,  the  Director  of  Public  Prosecutions, 
and  of  Mr.  E.  Grimwood  Mears,  barrister  of  the  Inner  Temple, 
whilst  in  addition  Professor  J.  H.  Morgan  has  collected  a 
number  of  statements  mainly  from  British  soldiers,  whicli  have 
also  been  submitted  to  the  Connnittee. 

The  lal30ur  involved  in  securing,  in  a  comparatively  short 
time,  so  large  a  number  of  statements  from  witnesses  scattered 
all  over  the  United  Kingdom,  made  it  necessary  to  employ 
a  good  many  exan:iiners.  The  depositions  were  in  all  cases 
taken  down  in  this  country  by  gentlemen  of  legal  knowledge 
and  experience,   though,   of  course,  they  had  no  authority  to 


*  Taken  from  Beljijiau  witnesses,  some  soldiers,  but  most  of  them 
civilians  from  those  towns  and  villages  through  which  the  German  Army 
passed,  and  from  British  officers  and  soldiers. 


adiniiiiBter  an  oatli.  They  were  instructed  not  to  "lead"  the 
■witnesses,  or  make  any  suggestions  to  tlieni,  and  also  to  impress 
iipon  them  the  necessity  for  care  and  precision  in  giving  their 
evidence. 

They  were  also  directed  to  treat  the  evidence  critically,  and 
as  far  as  possible  satisfy  themselves,  by  putting  questions  which 
arose  out  of  the  evidence,  that  the  witnesses  were  speaking  the 
truth.  They  were,  in  fact,  to  cross-examine  them,  so  far  as  the 
testimony  given  provided  materials  for  cross-examination. 

We  have  seen  and  conversed  with  many  of  these  gentlemen, 
and  have  been  greatly  impressed  by  their  ability  and  by  Avhat 
we  have  gathered  as  to  the  fairness  of  spirit  wliich  they  brouglit 
to  their  task.  We  feel  certain  that  the  instructions  given  have 
been  scrupulously  observed. 

In  many  cases  those  who  took  the  evidence  have  added  their 
comments  upon  the  intelligence  and  demeanour  of  the  witnesses, 
stating  the  impression  Avhiclreach  witness  made,  and  indicating 
any  cases  in  Avliich  the  story  told  appeared  to  them  open  to 
doubt  or  suspicion.  In  coming  to  a  conclusion  upon  the 
evidence  the  Committee  have  been  greatly  assisted  by  these 
expressions  of  opinion,  and  have  uniformly  rejected  every 
deposition  on  which  an  ojoinion  adverse  to  the  witness  has  been 
recorded. 

This  seems  to  be  a  fitting  place  at  which  to  put  on  record 
the  invaluable  help  which  we  have  received  from  our  Secretaries, 
Mr.  E.  Grimwood  Mears  and  Mr.  W.  J.  H.  Brodrick,  whose 
careful  diligence  and  minute  knowledge  of  the  evidence  have 
been  of  the  utmost  service.  Without  their  skill,  judgment,  and 
untiring  industry  the  labour  of  examining  and  appraising  each 
part  of  so  large  a  mass  of  testimony  would  have  occupied  us  for 
six  months  instead  of  three. 

The  marginal  references  in  this  Report  indicate  the  parti- 
cular deposition  or  depositions  on  which  the  statements  made 
in  the  text  are  based. 

The  depositions  printed  in  the  Appendix  themselves  show 
that  the  stories  were  tested  in  detail,  and  in  none  of  these  have 
we  been  able  to  detect  the  trace  of  any  desire  to  "  make  a 
case  "  against  the  German  army.  Care  was  taken  to  impress 
upon  the  witness  that  the  giving  of  evidence  was  a  grave  and 
serious  matter,  and  every  deposition  submitted  to  us  was  signed 
by  the  witness  in  the  presence  of  the  examiner. 

A  noteworthy  feature  of  many  of  the  depositions  is  that 
though  taken  at  different  places  and  on  different  dates,  and  by 
different  lawyers  from  different  witnesses,  they  often  corroborate 
each  other  in  a  striking  manner. 

The  evidence  is  all  couched  in  the  very  words  which  the 
witnesses  used,  and  where  they  spoke,  as  the  Belgian  witnesses 
did,  in  Flemish  or  French,  pains  were  taken  to  have  com- 
petent translators,  and  to  make  certain  that  the  translation  was 
exact. 


Seldom  did  these  Belgian  witnesses  show  a  desire,  to 
descril)e  what  they  had  seen  or  sufPered.  The  lawyers  who 
took  the  depositions  were  surprised  to  find  how  little  vindic- 
tiveness,  or  indeed  passion,  they  showed,  and  how  generally 
free  from  emotional  excitement  their  narratives  were.  Many 
hesitated  to  speak  lest  what  they  said,  if  it  should  ever  be  pub- 
lished, might  involve  their  friends  or  relatives  at  home  in 
danger,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  give  an  absolute  jiromise 
that  names  should  not  be  disclosed. 

For  this  reason  names  have  been  omitted. 

A  large  number  of  depositions,  and  extracts  from  deposi- 
tions, will  be  found  in  Appendix  A.,  and  to  these  your  attention 
is  directed. 

•  In  ail  cases  these  are  given  as  nearly  as  possible  (for  abbre- 
viation was  sometimes  inevitable)  in  the  exact  words  of  the 
Avitness,  and  wherever  a  statement  has  been  made  by  a  witness 
tending  to  exculpate  the  German  troops,  it  has  been  given  in 
full.  Excisions  have  been  made  only  where  it  has  been  felt 
necessary  to  conceal  the  identity  oL'  the  deponent,  or  to  omit 
what  are  merely  hearsay  statements,  or  are  palpably  irrelevant. 
In  every  case  the  name  and  description  of  the  Avitnesses  are 
given  in  the  original  depositions  and  in  copies  which  have  been 
furnished  to  us  by  H.M.  Government.  The  originals  remain  in 
the  custody  of  the  Home  Department,  where  they  will  be  avail- 
able, in  case  of  need,  for  reference  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
War. 

The  Committee  have  also  had  before  them  a  number  of 
diaries  taken  from  the  Geiman  dead. 

It  appears  to  be  the  custom  in  the  German  army  for  soldiers 
to  be  encouraged  to  keep  diaries  and  to  record  in  them  the  chief 
events  of  each  day.  A  good  many  of  these  diaries  were  collected 
on  the  field  when  British  troops  were  advancing  over  ground 
Avhich  had  been  held  by  the  enemy,  were  sent  to  Head  Quarters 
in  France,  and  despatched  thence  to  the  War  Office  in  England. 
They  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Prisoners  of  War  Infor- 
mation Bureau,  and  were  handed  by  it  to  our  secretaries. 
They  have  been  translated  with  great  care.  We  have  inspected 
them  and  are  absolutely  satisfied  of  their  authenticity.  They 
have  thrown  important  light  upon  the  methods  followed  in  the 
conduct  of  the  war.  In  one  respect,  indeed,  they  are  the  most 
weighty  part  of  the  evidence,  because  they  proceed  from  a  hostile 
source  and  are  not  open  to  any  such  criticism  on  the  ground  of 
bias  as  might  be  applied  to  Belgian  testimony.  From  time  tc 
time  references  to  these  diaries  will  be  found  in  the  text  of  the 
Report.  In  Appendix  B.  they  are  set  out  at  greater  length  both 
in  the  German  original  and  in  an  English  translation,  together 
Avith  a  few  photographs  of  the  more  important  entries. 

In  Appendix  C.  are  set  out  a  number  of  German  proclama- 
tions. Most  of  these  are  included  in  the  Belgian  Report  No.  VI. 
which  has  been  furnished  to  us.     Actual  specimens  of  original 


c 

])r()rlainall(")ns,  issued  l».y  or  at  tlic  l)i(l(liii^-  of  the  CJerinaii 
military  authoriti(^s,  and  posted  in  the  Belgian  and  Frenclv 
towns  mentioned,  liave  heen  i)roduf'od  1o  us,  and  copies  thereof 
are  to  be  found  in  this  Appendix. 

Ap])endix  1).  contains  the  rules  of  the  Hague  Convention 
dealing  Avith  the  coiuluot  of  War  on  Land  as  adopted  in  11107, 
(lermany  being  one  of  the  signatory  powers. 

In  Appendix  E.  will  be  found  a  selection  of  statements 
collected  in  France  by  Professor  ]\lorgan. 

These  live  appendices  are  contained  in  a  separate  volume. 

In  dealing  Avitli  tiie  evidence  we  have  recognised  the 
importance  of  testing  it  severely,  and  so  far  as  tlie  conditions 
permit  we  iiave  followed  the  principles  which  are  recognised  in 
the  Courts  of  England,  the  British  Ovei'seas  Dominions,  and  the 
I'nited  States.  \Ve  liave  also  (as  already  noted)  set  aside  the 
testimony  of  any  witnesses  who  did  not  .favourably  impress  the 
lawyers  who  took  their  depositions,  and  have  rejected  hearsay 
evidence  except  in  cases  where  hearsay  furnished  an  undesigned 
confirmation  of  facts  with  i-egard  to  which  we  already  possessed 
direct  testimony  from  some  other  source,  or  explained  in  a 
natural  way  facts  imperfectly  narrated  or  otherwise  perplexing.* 

It  is  natural  to  ask  whether  much  of  the  evidence  given, 
especially  by  the  Belgian  witnesses,  may  not  be  due  to 
excitement  and  overstrained  emotions,  and  Avhether,  apart  from 
deliberate  falsehood,  persons  who  mean  to  speak  the  truth  may 
not  in  a  more  or  less  hysterical  condition  have  been  imagining 
themselves  to  have  seen  the  things  which  they  say  that  they 
saw.  Both  the  lawj^ers  who  took  the  de])Ositions,  and  Ave  when 
we  came  to  examine  them,  full}'  recognised  this  possibility. 
The  lawj^ers,  as  already  ol)served,  took  pains  to  test  each 
witness  and  either  rejected,  or  appended  a  note  of  distrust  to, 
the  testimony  of  those  who  failed  to  impress  them  favourabl}'. 
We  have  carried  the  sifting  still  further  by  also  omitting  froin 
the  depositions  those  in  which  we  found  something  that  seemed 
too  exceptional  to  be  accepted  on  the  faith  of  one  Avitness  only, 
or  too  little  supported  by  other  evidence  pointing  to  like  facts, 
^lany  depositions  have  thus  been  omitted  on  Avhich,  though  they 
are  probably  true,  Ave  think  it  safer  not  to  place  reliance. 

NotAvithstanding  these  precautions,  Ave  began  the  inquiry 
Avith  doubts  whether  a  positive  result  Avould  be  attained.  But 
the  fiirther  Ave  Avent  and  the  more  evidence  Ave  examined  so 


*  For  instance,  the  dead  body  of  a  man  is  found  lying  on  the  doorstep, 
or  a  woman  is  seen  who  has  the  appearance  of  having  been  outraged.  So 
far  the  facts  are  proved  by  the  direct  evidence  of  the  person  by  whom  they 
have  been  seen.  Information  is  sought  for  by  him  as  to  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  death  or  outrage  took  place.  The  l)ystanders  who  saw  the 
circumstances,  but  who  are  not  now  accessible,  relate  what  they  saw,  and 
this  is  reported  by  the  witness  to  the  examiner  and  is  placed  on  record  in 
the  depositions.  Wc  have  had  no  hesitation  in  taking  such  evidence  int(j 
consideration. 


iniu'h  the  nioic  was  our  scepticism  reduced.  There  iniglit  be 
some  exaggeration  in  one  witness,  possible  delusion  in  another, 
inaccuracies  in  a  third.  When,  however,  we  found  tliat  things 
which  had  at  lirst  seemed  improbable  were  testilied  to  by  many 
witnesses  coming  from  different  places,  having  had  no  com- 
munication Avitli  one  another,  and  knowing  nothing  of  one 
another's  statements,  the  points  in  which  they  all  agree*  1 
became  more  and  more  evidently  true.  And  when  this  con- 
currence of  testimony,  this  convergence  upon  what  were 
substantially  the  same  broad  facts,  showed  itself  in  hundreds 
of  depositions,  the  truth  of  those  broad  facts  stood  out  beyond 
question.  The  force  of  the  evidence  is  cmnnlative.  Its  worth 
can  be  estimated  only  by  perusing  the  testimony  as  a  Avhole. 
ri"  any  further  confirmation  had  beeii  needed,  we  found  it  in 
the  diaries  in  which  German  officers  and  private  soldiers  have 
recorded  incidents  just  such  as  those  to  which  the  Belgian 
witnesses  depose. 

The  experienced  lawj^ers  who  took  the  depositions  tell  us 
that  they  passed  from  the  same  stage  of  doubt  into  the  same 
stage  of  conviction.  They  also  began  their  work  in  a  sceptical 
spirit,  expecting  to  find  much  of  the  evidence  coloured  by 
passion,  or  prompted  by  an  excited  fancy.  But  they  were 
impressed  by  the  general  moderation  and  matter  of  fact  level- 
headedness of  the  witnesses.  W^  have  interrogated  them, 
particularly  regarding  some  of  the  most  startling  and  shocking- 
incidents  which  appear  in  the  evidence  laid  before  us,  and 
where  they  expressed  a  doubt  we  have  excluded  the  evidence, 
admitting  it  as  regards  the  cases  in  which  the}"  stated  that  the 
witnesses  seemed  to  them  to  be  speaking  the  truth,  and  that 
tliey  themselves  believed  the  incidents  referred  to  have 
liappened.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  have  inserted  among 
the  depositions  printed  in  the  Aj)pendix  several  cases  which  we 
inight  otherwise  have  deemed  scarcely  credible. 

The  Committee  has  conducted  its  investigations  and  come 
to  its  conclusions  independently  of  the  reports  issued  by  the 
French  and  Belgian  Commissions,  but  it  has  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  those  conclusions  are  in  substantial  accord  with  the 
conclusions  that  have  been  reached  by  these  two  Commissions. 

Arrangement  of  the  Report. 

As  respects  the  framework  and  arrangement  of  the  Report, 
it  has  been  deemed  desirable  to  present  first  of  all  what  may  be 
called  a  general  historical  account  of  the  events  which  happened, 
and  the  conditions  which  prevailed  in  the  parts  of  Belgium 
which  la}'  along  the  line  of  the  German  march,  and  thereafter  to 
set  forth  the  evidence  which  bears  upon  particular  classes  of 
offences  against  the  usages  of  civilised  warfare,  evidence  which 
shows  to  what  extent  the  provisions  of  the  Hague  Convention 
have  been  disregarded. 


8 

This  method,  no  doubt,  involves  a  certain  amount  of  over- 
hii)ping,  for  some  of  the  olTenccs  belonging  to  the  later  part  of 
tlie  Keport  "will  have  been  already  referred  to  in  the  earlier  part 
whirli  deals  with  the  invasion  of  Belgium.  But  the  importance 
of  presenting  a  connected  narrative  of  events  seems  to  outweigh 
the  disadvantage  of  occasional  repetition. 

The  Report  will  therefore  be  found  to  consist  of  two  parts, 
viz.  : — 

(1)  An  analysis  and  summary  of  the  evidence  regarding  the 
conduct  of  the  Herman  troops  in  Belgium  towards 
the  civilian  population  of  that  country  during  the 
first  few  weeks  oC  the  invasion, 

^^2)  An  examination  of  the  evidence  relating  to  breaches  of 
the  rules  and  usages  of  war  and  acts  of  inhumanitj^, 
connnittod  l)y  German  soldiers  or  groups  of  soldiers, 
during  the  iirst  four  months  of  the  war,  whether  in 
Belgium  or  in  France. 

This  second  part  has  again  been  sub-divided  into  two 
sections : — 

a.  Offences  committed  against  non-combatant  civilians 
during  the  conduct  of  the  Avar  generally. 

I).  Offences  conmiitted  against  combatants,  whether  in 
Belgium  or  in  France. 


rt  cscMorf 


Taken  from  PH(LIPS'  LARGE  SCALE  STRATEGICAL  WAR   MAP  OF  EUROPE  (Western  Ar 


GEORGE    PHILIP    &    SON.    Ltd 


PART   I. 

THE    CONDUCT    OF   THE    GERMAN   TROOPS  IN 
BELGIUM/ 

Although  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  had  been  guaranteed  by 
a  treaty  signed  in  1839  to  which  France,  Prussia,  and  Great 
Britain  were  parties,  and  although,  apart  altogether  from  any 
duties  imposed  by  treaty,  no  belligerent  nation  has  any  right 
to  claim  a  passage  for  its  army  across  the  territory  of  a  neutral 
state,  the  position  which  Belgium  held  between  the  German 
Empire"  and  France  had  obliged  her  to  consider  the  possibility 
that  in  the  event  of  a  war  between  these  two  Powers  her 
neutrality  might  not  be  respected.  In  191 1  the  Belgian 
Minister  at  Berlin  had  requested  an  assurance  fi-om  Germany 
that  she  would  observe  the  Treaty  of  1839  ;  and  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Empire  had  declared  that  Germany  had  no  intention  of 
violating  Belgian  neutrality.  Again  in  1913  the  German 
Secretary  of  State  at  a  meeting  of  a  Budget  Committee  of 
the  Reichstag  had  declared  that  "  Belgian  neutrality  is  pro- 
"  vided  for  by  international  conventions  and  Germany  is 
"  determined  to  respect  those  conventions."  Finally,  on  July 
31,  1914,  when  the  danger  of  war  between  Germany  and  France 
seemed  imminent,  Herr  von  Below,  the  German  Minister  in 
Brussels,  being  interrogated  by  the  Belgian  Foreign  Depart- 
ment, replied  that  he  knew  of  the  assurances  given  by  the 
German  Chancellor  in  1911,  and  that  he  "  was  certain  that  the 
sentiments  expressed  at  that  time  had  not  changed."  Neverthe- 
less on  August  2  the  same  Minister  presented  a  note  to  the  Belgian 
Government  demanding  a  passage  through  Belgium  for  the 
German  army  on  pain  of  an  instant  declaration  of  war.  Startled 
as  they  were  by  the  suddenness  with  which  this  terrific  war 
cloud  had  risen  on  the  eastern  horizon,  the  leaders  of  the 
nation  rallied  round  the  King  in  his  resolution  to  refuse  the 
demand  and  to  prepare  for  resistance.  They  were  aware  of  the 
danger  which  would  confront  the  civilian  population  of  the 
country  if  it  were  tempted  to  take  part  in  the  work  of  national 
defence.  Orders  were  accordingly  issued  l^y  the  civil  governors 
of  provinces,  and  by  the  burgomasters  of  towns,  that  the 
civilian  inhabitants  were  to  take  no  part  in  hostilities. and  to 
offer  no  provocation  to  the  invaders.  That  no  excuse  might  be 
furnished  for  severities,  the  populations  of  many  important 
towns  were  instructed  to  surrender  all  firearms  into  the  hands 
of  the  local  officials.^ 

^  A  general  map  of  Belgium  will  be  found  facing  this  page. 
-  Copies  of  typical  proclamations  have  been  printed  in  L'Allemagne  et  la 
Belgique,  Documents  Annexes,  xxxvi. 


Scale  10  miles  to  I  inch 

_±=a_ 


20  , 

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Slanhenberghe, 

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le 


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Kadzand*-^  I 
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o 

Eeineghen/ 
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( ^^'    \       Wyngena 
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^    -^      Liohteruelde  \J 

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toulers  \     J\Aeuleb\h 


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fe 


t^tseele 
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I 


PART   I. 

THE    CONDUCT    OF   THE    GERMAN   TROOPS  IN 
BELGIUM/ 

Although  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  had  been  guaranteed  by 
a  treaty  signed  in  1839  to  which  France,  Prussia,  and  Great 
Britain  were  parties,  and  although,  apart  altogetlier  from  any 
duties  imposed  by  treaty,  no  belligerent  nation  lias  any  right 
to  claim  a  passage  for  its  army  across  the  territory  of  a  neutral 
state,  the  position  which  Belgium  held  between  the  German 
Empire  and  France  had  obliged  her  to  consider  the  possibility 
that  in  the  event  of  a  war  between  these  two  Powers  her 
neutrality  might  not  be  respected.  In  1911  the  Belgian 
Minister  at  Berlin  had  requested  an  assurance  fi-om  Germany 
that  she  would  observe  the  Treaty  of  1839  ;  and  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Empire  had  declared  that  Germany  had  no  intention  of 
violating  Belgian  neutrality.  Again  in  1913  the  German 
Secretary  of  State  at  a  meeting  of  a  Budget  Committee  of 
the  Reichstag  had  declared  that  "  Belgian  neutrality  is  pro- 
"  vided  for  by  international  conventions  and  Germany  is 
"  determined  to  respect  those  conventions."  Finally,  on  July 
31,  1914,  when  the  danger  of  war  between  Germany  and  France 
seemed  imminent,  Herr  von  Below,  the  German  Minister  in 
Brussels,  being  interrogated  by  the  Belgian  Foreign  Depart- 
ment, replied  that  he  knew  of  the  assurances  given  by  the 
German  Chancellor  in  1911,  and  that  he  "  was  certain  that  the 
sentiments  expressed  at  that  time  had  not  changed."  Neverthe- 
less on  August  2  the  same  Minister  presented  a  note  to  the  Belgian 
Government  demanding  a  passage  through  Belgium  for  the 
German  anny  oti  pain  of  an  instant  declaration  of  war.  Startled 
as  they  were  by  the  suddenness  with  which  this  terrific  war 
cloud  had  risen  on  the  eastern  horizon,  the  leaders  of  the 
nation  rallied  round  the  King  in  his  resolution  to  refuse  the 
demand  and  to  prepare  for  resistance.  They  were  aware  of  the 
danger  which  would  confront  the  civilian  population  of  the 
country  if  it  were  tempted  to  take  part  in  the  work  of  national 
defence.  Orders  were  accordingly  issued  by  the  civil  governors 
of  provinces,  and  by  the  burgomasters  of  towns,  that  the 
civilian  inhabitants  were  to  take  no  part  in  hostilities. and  to 
offer  no  provocation  to  the  invaders.  That  no  excuse  might  be 
furnished  for  severities,  the  populations  of  many  important 
towns  were  instructed  to  surrender  all  firearms  into  the  hands 
of  the  local  officials.^ 

^  A  general  map  of  Belgium  will  be  found  facing  this  page. 
-  Copies  of  typical  proclamations  liave  been  printed  in  L'Allemagne  et  la 
Belgique,  Documents  Annexes,  xxxvi. 


10 

This  liappened  on  Aii^^^ust  2.  On  tlie  ovcMiing  of  Aiiguyt  o 
tlie(!ennan  troops  crossed  the  frontier.  The  storm  burst  so 
suddenl}'-  tliat  neither  party  had  time  to  adjust  its  mind  to 
the  situation.  The  Germans  seem  to  have  expected  an  easy 
passage.  The  I^elgian  population,  never  dreaming  of  an  attack, 
Avere  startled  and  stupefied. 


LIEGE   AND   DISTRICT. 

On  August  4th  the  roads  converging  upon  Liege  from  north- 
east, east,  and  south  were  covered  with  (lerman  Death's  Head 
Hussars  and  Uhlans  Y)ressiiig  forward  to  seize  the  passage  over 
the  Meuse.     From  the  very  beginning  of   the  operations   tlic 
civilian  population  of  the  villages  lying  upon  the  line  of  the 
German  advance  were  made  to  experience  the  extreme  horrors 
of  war.     "  On  the  4th  of  August,"  says  one  witness,  "  at  Herve  " 
(a  village  not  far  from  the  frontier),  "I  saw  at  about  2  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  near  the  station,   five  Uhlans ;  these  were 
the  first  German  troops  I  had  seen.     They  Avere  followed  by 
a  German  officer  and  some  soldiers  in  a  motor  car.     Tlie  men 
in  the  car  called  out  to  a  couple  of  young  fellows  who  were 
standing   about    30   yards   away.      The   young   men,    being 
"  afraid,  ran  off  and  then  the  Germans  fired  and  killed  one  of 

them   named     D "     The  murder  of   this   innocent 

fugitive  civilian  was  a  prelude  to  the  burning  and  pillage  of 
Herve  and  of  other  villages  in  the  neighbourhood,  to  the 
indiscriminate  shooting  of  civilians  of  both  sexes,  and  to  the 
organised  military  execution  of  batches  of  selected  males.  Thus 
at  Herve  some  50  men  escaping  from  the  burning  houses  were 
seized,  taken  outside  the  town  and  shot.  At  Melen,  a  hamlet 
west  of  Kerve,  40  men  were  shot.  In  one  household  alone  the 
father  and  mother  fnames  given)  were  shot,  the  daughter  died 
after  being  repeatedly  outraged,  and  the  son  was  wounded. 
Nor  were  children  exempt.  "  About  August  4,"  says  one 
witness,  ''  near  Vottem,  we  were  pursuing  some  Uhlans.  I  saw 
a  man,  woman,  and  a  girl  about  nine,  who  had  been  killed. 
"  They  were  on  the  threshold  of  a  house,  one  on  the  top  of  the 
"  other,  as  if  they  had  been  shot  down,  one  after  the  other,  as 
"  they  tried  to  escape." 

The  burning  of  the  villages  in  this  neighbourhood  and  the 
wholesale  slaughter  of  civilians,  such  as  occurred  at  Herve, 
Micheroux,  and  Soumagne,  appear  to  be  connected  with  the 
exasperation  caused  by  the  resistance  of  Fort  Fleron,  whose 
guns  barred  the  main  road  from   Aix   la   Chapelle    to   Liege. 


'  The  references  are  to  the  Appendices  to  be  found  in  Vol.  II.  of  the 
Report.  Those  to  which  a  letter  is  prefixed,  as  in  the  present  case,  relate 
to  the  Appendix  of  Depositions  (A)  which  is  subdivided  into  sections,  e;ich 
of  which  is  so  distinguished. 


11 

Enrao'ed  1)}'  tlie  lossos  "wliich  they  liad  snstalnod,  suspicions  of 

the  temper  of  tlie  civilian  population,  and  probably  thinking 

that  by  exceptional  severities  at  the  outset  they  could  cow  the 

spirit  of   the  Belgian   nation,    the   German   officers   and   men 

speedily  accustomed  themselves  to  the  slaughter  of  civilians. 

llow  rapidly  the  process  was  effected  is  illustrated  by  an  entjy 

in  the  diary  of  Kurt  Hoffman,  a  one  year's  man  in  the  1st  Jiigei-s, 

who  on  August  5th  was  in  front  of  Fort  Fleron.      He  illustrates  Ajippiiaix  B. 

his  story  by  a  sketch  map.     "The  position,"  he  says,    "was 

"  dangerous.      As  suspicious  civilians  were  hanging  about — 

"  houses  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  were  cleared,  the  owners  arrested  (and 

"  shot  the  following  day).     Suddenly  village  A  was  fired  at. 

"  Out  of  it  bursts  our  baggage  train,  and  the  4tli  Company  of 

"  the  27th  Regiment  who  had  lost  their  Avay  and  been  shelled 

"  by  our  own  artillery.     From  the  point  D.P.  (shown  in  diary) 

"  I  shoot  a  civilian  with  rifle  at  400  metres  slap  through  the 

"  head,  as  we  afterwards  ascertained."     Within  a  few  hours, 

Hoffman,  A\liilst  in  house  3,  was  himself  under  fire  from,  his  own 

comrades   and    narrowly   escaped   being   killed.      A   German, 

ignorant  that  house  3  had  been  occupied,  reported,  as  was  the 

fact,  that  he  had  been  fired  upon  from  that  house.     He  had 

been  challenged  by  the  field  patrol,  and   failed   to   give  the 

countersign.     Hoffman  continues  :  "  Ten  minutes  later,  people 

"  approach  who  are  talking  excitedl}^ — -apparently  Germans.     I 

"  call  out  '  Halt,  who's  there  ?  '      Suddenly  rapid  fire  is  opened 

"  upon  us,  wliich  I  can  only  escape  by  quickly  jumping  on  one 

"  side — with  bullets  and  fragments  of  wall  and  pieces  of  glass 

"  flying  round  nie.     I  call  out  '  Halt,  here  Field  Patrol.'     Then 

"  it  stops,   and  there  appears  Lieutenant    Romer   with   three 

"  platoons.     A  man  has  reported  that  he  had  been  shot  at  out 

"  of  our  house  ;  no  wonder,  if  he  does  not  give  the  countersign." 

The  entry,  though  dated  August  the  5th,  was  evidently  written 

on  the  6tli  or  later,  because  the  writer  refers  to  the  suspicious 

civilians  as  having  been  shot  on  that  day.     Hoffman  does  not 

indicate  of  what  offence  these  civilians  were  guilty,  and  there  is 

no  positive  evidence  to  connect  their  slaughter  with  the  report 

made  by  the  German  who  had  been  fired  on  by  his  comrades. 

They  were  "  suspicious  "  and  that  was  enough. 

The  systematic  execution  of  civilians,  which  in  some  cases, 
as  the  diary  just  cited  shows,  was  founded  on  a  genuine  mistake, 
was  given  a  wide  extension  through  the  province  of  Liege.     In         a  4. 
Soumagne  and  Micheroux  very  many  civilians  were  summarily 
shot.     In  a  field  belonging  to  a  man  named  E  ....  56  or  57 
were  put  to  death.     A  CJerman  officer  said  :   "  You  have  shot  at         a  9. 
us."     One  of  the  villagers  asked  to  be  allowed  to  speak,  and 
said  :   "If  you  think  these  people  fired,  kill  me,  but  let  them  go." 
The  answer  was  tliree  volleys.     The  survivors  were  bayoneted.         a  5. 
Their  corpses  Avere   seen  in   the  field  that   night   by   another 
witness.     One  at  least  had  been  mutilated.     These  were  not  the 
only  victims  in  Soumagne.     The  e^e-witness  of  the  massacre 


12 

saw,  on  Ills  waylionie,  20  bodies,  one  tliat  of  a  young  girl  of  13. 

a  W  Another  witness  sa\v  19  corpses  in  a  meadow. 

a  7.  At    Blegny   Treniblenr,    on   the    0th,    some    civilians   were 

captured  by  German  soldiers,  wlio  took  steps  to  put  them  to 
death  forthwith,  but  were  restrained  by  the  arrival  of  an  officer. 
The  prisoners  subsequently  were  taken  off  to  Battice  and  live 
Avere  sbot  in  a  field.     No  reason  was  assigned  for  their  murder. 

a  1.  In  the  meantime  house  burners  were  at  work.     On  the  Gtli, 

Battice  was  destroyed  in  part.  From  the  8th  to  the  lOtli  over 
300  houses  were  burnt  at  Herve,  while  mounted  men  shot  into 
doors  and  windoAvs  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  inhabitants. 

a  17.  At  Heure  le  Komain  on  or  about  the  15th  of  August  all  the 

male  inhabitants,  including  some  bedridden  old  men  were 
imprisoned  in  the  church.  The  burgomaster's  brother  and 
the  priest  were  bayoneted. 

^  ■^^^>  On  or  about  the   14th  and  15th  the   village   of  Vise  was 

completely  destroyed.  Officers  directed  the  incendiaries,  who 
worked  methodically  with  benzine.  Antiques  and  china  were 
removed  from  the  houses,  before  their  destruction,  by  officers, 
who  guarded  the  plunder  revolver  in  hand.  The  house  of  a 
witness,  which  contained  valuables  of  this  kind,  was  protected  for 
a  time  by  a  notice  posted  on  the  door  by  officers.  This  notice 
has  been  produced  to  the  Committee.  After  the  removal  of  the 
valuables  this  house  also  was  burnt. 

a  20.  German  soldiers  had  arrived  on  the  15th  at  Blegny  Trem- 

bleur  and  seized  a  quantity  of  wine.  On  the  16th  prisoners 
were  taken  ;  four,  including  the  priest  and  the  burgomaster,  ^vere 
shot.     On  the  same   day  200  (so-called)  hostages  were  seized  at 

a  21.         riemalle  and  marched  off.     There   they  were  told  that  unless 
Fort  Flemalle  surrendered  by  noon  they  would  be  shot.     It  did 
surrender  and  they  were  released, 
ppendix  B.  Entries  in  a  German  diary  show  that  on  the  19th  the  German 

soldiers  gave  themselves   up  to   debauchery  in  the  streets  of 

Van  der       Liege,  and  on  the  night  of  the  20th  (Thursday)  a  massacre  took 
place  in  the  streets,  beginning   near  the   Cafe  Carpentier,  at 

a  24  which  there  is  said  to  have  been  a  dinner  attended  by  Russian 

and  other  students.  A  proclamation  issued  by  General  Kolewe 
on  the  following  day  gave  the  German  version  of  the  affair, 
which  was  that  his  troops  had  been  fired  on  by  Russian  students. 
The  diary  states  that  in   the  night  the  inhabitants  of   Liege 

a  26.  became  mutinous  and  that  50  persons  were  shot.  The  Belgian 
witnesses  vehemently  deny  that  there  had  been  any  provocation 
given,  some  stating  that  many  German  soldiers  were  drunk, 
others  giving   evidence   which  indicates   that    the   affair   was 

^  28  planned   beforehand.      It   is   stated  that  at   5  o'clock    in   the 

evening,  long  before  the  shooting,  a  citizen  was  warned  by  a 
friendly  German  soldier  not  to  go  out  that  night. 

Though  the  cause  of  the  massacre  is  in  dispute,  the  results 
are  known  with  certainty.  The  Rue  des  Pitteurs  and  houses  in 
the   Place   de  I'Universite   and  the   Quai   des  Pecheurs  were 


13 


systematicallj''  fired  with  benzine,  and  many  inliabitants  were 
burnt  alive  in  tlieir  bouses,  their  efforts  to  escape  being  pre- 
vented by  rifle  lire.  Twenty  people  were  shot,  while  trying  to 
escape,  before  the  eyes  of  one  of  the  witnesses.  The  Liege  Fire  a  28  to  a  31. 
Brigade  turned  out  but  was  not  allowed  to  extinguish  the  iire. 
Its  carts,  however,  were  usefully  employed  in  removing  heaps 
of  civilian  corpses  to  the  Town  Hall.  The  fire  burnt  on  through 
the  night  and  the  murders  continued  on  the  following  day,  the 
2l8t.  Thirty-two  civilians  were  killed  on  that  day  in  the  Place 
de  rUniversite  alone,  and  a  witness  states  that  this  was  followed 
by  the  rape  in  open  day  of  15  or  20  women  on  tables  in  the 
square  itself. 

No  depositions  are  before  us  which  deal  with  events  in  the 
city  of  Liege  after  this  date.  Outrages,  however,  continued  in 
various  places  in  the  province. 

For  example,  on  or  about  the  21st  of  August,  at  Pepinster,  a  33.  a  a4. 
two  witnesses  were  seized  as  hostages  and  were  threatened, 
together  with  five  others,  that  unless  they  could  discover  a 
civilian  who  was  alleged  to  have  shot  a  soldier  in  the  leg,  they 
would  be  shot  themselves.  They  escaped  their  fate  because 
one  of  the  hostages  convinced  the  officer  that  the  alleged 
shooting,  if  it  took  place  at  all,  took  place  in  the  Commune  of 
Cornesse  and  not  that  of  Pepinster,  whereupon  the  Burgomaster 
of  Cornesse,  who  was  old  and  very  deaf,  was  shot  forthwith. 

The  outrages  on  the  civilian  population  were  not  confined 
to  the  villages  mentioned  above,  but  appear  to  ha^e  been 
general  throughout  this  district  from  the  very  outbreak  of 
the  war. 

An*  entiy  in  one  of  the  diaries  says:  "We  crossed  the  Appendix B. 
"  Belgian  frontier  on  15th  August  1914  at  11.50  in  the  forenoon, 
"  and  then  we  went  steadily  along  the  main  road  till  we  got  into 
"  Belgium.  Hardly  were  we  there  when  we  had  a  horrible 
''  sight.  Houses  were  burnt  down,  the  inhabitants  chased 
"  away  and  some  of  them  shot.  Not  one  of  the  hundreds  of 
"  houses  were  spared.  Everything  was  plundered  and  burnt. 
"  Hardly  had  we  passed  through  this  large  village  before  the 
"  next  village  was  burnt,  and  so  it  went  on  continuously.  On 
"  the  16th  August  1914  the  large  village  of  Barchon  was  burnt 
*'  down.  On  the  same  day  we  crossed  the  bridge  over  the 
"  Meuse  at  11.50  in  the  morning.  We  then  arrived  at  the 
"  town  of  Wandre.  Here  the  houses  were  spared,  but  ever}^- 
"  thing  was  examined.  At  last  we  were  out  of  the  town  and 
"  everything  went  in  ruins.  In  one  house  a  whole  collection 
"  of  weapons  was  found.  The  inhabitants  without  exception 
"  were  brought  out  and  shot.  This  shooting  was  heart- 
"  breaking  as  they  aU  knelt  down  and  prayed,  but  that  was  no 
"  ground  for  mercy.  A  few  shots  rang  out  and  they  fell  back 
"  into  the  green  grass  and  slept  forever."  [" Die  Einwohner 
"  wurden  samt  und  sonders  herausgeholt  und  erschossen  :  aber 
"  dieses  Erschiessen   war   direkt   herzzerreisend   wie   sic   iille 


Eitel 
Anders. 


14 

knioben  iiiul  betcten,  aber  dies  lialf  kein  Erbarmen.  Ein 
paar  Schiisse  krackton  mid  die  fielen  riicklings  in  das  griino 
Cras  und  vorseldiefoii  fiir  imnier."] 


VALEEYS   OF   MEUSE   AND   SA]\IBRE. 

While  tlie  First  Army,  under  tlie  command  of  General 
Alexander  von  Khick,  was  mastering  the  passages  of  the  Meiise 
between  Vise  and  Namur,  and  carrying  out  the  scheme  of 
devastation  •which  has  already  been  described,  detachments  of 
the  Second  German  Army,  under  General  von  Bidow,  were 
proceeding  np  the  Meuse  valley  towards  Namiir.  On  Wednes- 
day, August  the  ]2th,  the  town  of  Huy,  which  stands  halfway 
between  Namur  and  Liege,  w^as  seized.  On  August  20  German 
guns  opened  fire  on  Namur  itself.  Three  days  later  the  city 
was  evacuated  by  its  defenders,  and  the  Germans  proceeded 
along  the  valley  of  the  Sambre  through  Tamines  and  Charleroi 
to  Mons.  Meanwhile  a  force  under  General  von  Hansen  had 
advanced  upon  Dinant,  by  Laroche,  Marche,  and  Achene,  and 
on  August  loth  made  an  unsuccessful  assault  upon  that  town. 
A  few  days  later  the  attack  was  renewed  and  with  success,  and, 
Dinant  captured,  Yon  Hansen's  army  streamed  into  France  by 
Bou vines  and  Rethel,  firing  and  looting  the  villages  and  shooting 
the  inhabitants  as  they  passed  through. 

The  evidence  with  regard  to  the  Province  of  Namur  is  less 
voluminous  than  that  relating  to  the  north  of  Belgium.  This  is 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  testimony  of  soldiers  is  seldom 
available,  as  the  towns  and  villages  once  occupied  by  the 
Germans  were  seldom  reoccupied  by  the  opposing  troops,  and 
the  number  of  refugees  who  have  reached  England  from  the 
Namur  district  is  comparatively  small. 

Andenne. 

Andenne  is  a  small  town  on  the  Meuse  between  Liege  and 
Namur,  lying  opposite  the  village  of  Seilles  (with  which  it  is 
connected  by  a  bridge  over  the  river),  and  was  one  of  the  earlier 
b  2.  places  reached  on  the  German  advance  up  the  Meuse.     In  order 

to  understand  the  story  of  the  massacre  which  occurred  there 
on  Thursday,  August  20th,  the  following  facts  should  be  borne 
in  mind  :  The  German  advance  was  hotly  contested  by  Belgian 
and  French  troops.  From  daybreak  onwards  on  the  19tli  August 
the  8th  Belgian  Regiment  of  the  Line  were  fighting  with  the 
German  troops  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Meuse  on  the  heights  of 
Seilles.  At  8  a.m.  on  the  19th  the  Belgians  found  further 
resistance  impossible  in  the  district,  and  retired  under  shelter 
of  the  forts  of  Namur.  As  they  retired  they  blew  up 
Andenne  bridge.     The  first  Germans  arrived  in  Andenne   at 


15 

about  10  a. in.,  when  10  or  12  Uhlans  rode  into  ilie  town.  They 
went  to  the  bridge  and  found  it  was  destroyed.  They  then 
retired,  but  returned  about  half  an  hour  afterwards.  Soon  after 
that  several  thousand  Germans  entered  the  town  and  niacte 
arrangements  to  spend  the  night  there.  Thus,  on  the  evening 
of  the  19th  August  a  large  bod}-  of  German  troops  were  in 
possession  of  the  town,  which  they  had  entered  without  any 
resistance  on  the  part  of  the  allied  armies  or  of  the  civilian 
population. 

About  l.oO  un  the  next  afternoon  shots  were  fired  from  the 
left  bank  of  the  Meuse  and  replied  to  by  the  Germans  in 
Andenne.  The  village  of  Andenne  had  been  isolated  from  the 
district  on  the  left  banlv  of  the  Meuse  by  the  destruction  of  the 
bridge,  and  there  is  notliing  to  suggest  that  the  iiring  on  the 
left  came  from  the  inhabitants  of  Andenne.  Almost  imme- 
diately, however,  the  slaughter  of  these  inhabitants  began,  and 
continued  for  over  two  hours  and  intermittently  during  the 
night.  Machine  guns  were  brought  into  play.  The  German 
troops  were  said  to  be  for  tlie  most  part  drunk,  and  they 
certainly  murdered  and  ravaged  unchecked.  A  reference  to 
the  German  diaries  in  the  Appendix  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
extent  to  which  the  army  gave  itself  np  to  drink  tlirough  the 
month  of  August. 

When  the  fire  slackened  about  7  o'clock,  many  of  the  towns-  b  1, 

people  fled  in  the  direction  of  the  quarries  ;  others  remained  in 
their  houses.     At  this  moment  the  whole  of  the  district  round  / 

the  station  was  on  fire  and  houses  were  flaming  over  a  distance 
of  2  kilometres  in  the  direction  of  the  hamlet  of  Tramaka.  The 
little  farms  which  rise  one  above  the  other  on  the  high  ground 
of  the  right  bank  were  also  burning. 

At  6  o'clock  on  the  following  morning,  the  21st,  the  Germans  ^  2. 

liegan  to  drag  the  inhabitants  from  their  houses.  Men,  -women, 
and  children  were  driven  into  the  square  where  the  sexes  were 
•separated.  Three  men  were  then  shot,  and  a  fourth  was 
liayoneted.  A  German  colonel  was  present  whose  intention  in 
I  he  lirst  place  appeared  to  be  to  shoot  all  the  men.  A  young 
Herman  girl  who  had  been  staying  in  the  neighbourhood  inter- 
ceded Avith  him,  and  after  some  parleying,  some  of  the  prisoners 
were  picked  out,  taken  to  the  banks  of  the  Meuse  and  there 
^hot.  The  colonel  accused  the  population  of  firing  on  the 
sdldiei's,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  any  of  them  had 
done  so,  and  no  inquiry  appears  to  have  been  made. 

About  400  people  lost  their  lives  in  this  massacre,  some  on 
the  banks  of  the  Meuse,  where  they  were  shot  according  to 
orders  given,  and  some  in  the  cellars  of  the  houses  where  they 
had  taken  refuge.  Eight  men  belonging  to  one  family  were 
murdered.  Another  man  was  placed  close  to  a  machine  gun 
which  was  fired  through  him.  His  w^ife  brought  his  body 
home  on  a  wheel-barrow.     The  Germans  broke  into  her  house 


and  ransacked  it,  and  piled  up  all  tlie  oatabies  in  a  liea})  on 
the  iloor  and  relieved  themsolves  upon  it. 

A  hair-drcsser  was  nuirdoi-cd  in  his  kitchen  Avhere  he  was 
sitting  with  a  child  on  each  knee,  A  paralytic  was  murdered 
in  his  garden.  After  this  came  the  general  sack  of  the  town. 
Many  of  the  inhabitants  who  escaped  the  massacre  were  kept 
as  prisoners  and  compelled  to  clear  the  houses  of  corpses  and 
bury  them  in  trenches.  These  prisoners  were  subset juently 
used  as  a  shelter  and  pj-otection  for  a  pontoon  bridge  which  the 
Germans  had  built  across  the  river  and  were  so  used  to  pre- 
vent the  Belgian  forts  from  firing  upon  it. 

A  few  days  later  the  Germans  celebrated  a  Fete  Nocturne 
in  the  square.  Hot  wine,  looted  in  the  town,  Avas  drunk,  and 
the  women  were  compelled  to  give  three  cheers  for  the  Kaiser 
and  to  sing  "  Deutschland  iiber  AUes." 

Namur  District. 

1^  y  The    light   round   Namur    was    accompanied    by    sporadic 

outrages.  Near  Marchovelette  wounded  men  were  murdered 
in  a  farm  by  German  soldiers.  The  farm  was  set  on  lire.  A 
German  cavalryman  rode  away  holding  in  fi'ont  of  him  one  of 
the  farmer's  daughters  crying  and  dishevelled. 

blO.  At  Temploux  on  the  23rd  August  a  professor  of  modern 

languages  at  the  College  of  Namur  was  shot  at  his  front  door 
by  a  German  officer.  Before  he  died  he  asked  the  officer  the 
reason  for  this  brutality,  and  the  officer  replied  that  he  had  lost 
his  temper  because  some  civilians  had  fired  upon  the  Germans 
as  they  entered  the  village.  This  allegation  was  not  proved. 
The  Belgian  army  was  still  operating  in  the  district,  and  it 
may  well  be  that  it  was  from  them  that  the  shots  in  question 
proceeded.     After  the  murder  the  house  was  burnt. 

h  11.  On  the  24th  and  25th  of  August  massacres  were  carried  out 

at  Surice,  in  which  many  persons  belonging  to  the  professional 
classes,  as  well  as  others,  were  killed. 

1j8.  Namur   was   entered   on    the    24th    August.      The    troop: 

signalised  their  entry  by  firing  on  a  crowd  of  150  unarme 
unresisting  civilians,  ten  alone  of  whom  escaped. 

b  11.  A  witness  of  good  standing  who  was  in  Namur  describes 

how  the  town  was  set  on  fire  systematically  in  six  different 
places.  As  the  inhabitants  fled  from  the  burning  houses  they 
were  shot  by  the  German  troops.  Not  less  than  140  houses 
were  burnt. 

b  12.  On  the  25th  the  hospital  at  Namur  was  set  on  fire  with 

inflammable  pastilles,  the  pretext  being  that  soldiers  in  the 
hospital  had  fired  upon  the  Germans. 

b  13.  At  Denee,  on  tlie  28th  of  August,  a  Belgian  soldier  who  had 

been  taken  prisoner  saw  three  civilian  fellow  prisoners  shot. 
One  was  a  cripple  and  another  an  old  man  of  eighty  who  was 
paralysed.     It  was  alleged  by  two  German  soldiers  that  these 


It 


17 

iiuMi  jiad  shot  at  tJiein  witli  rilles.  Neither  of  tlieiii  had  rifles, 
iior  had  they  anything  in  their  pockets.  The  witness  actually 
saw  the  Mermans  search  them  and  nothiiirr  was  I'oiind. 


CllAULKROl    DlSTRKT. 

In  'I'aniines,  a  large  village  on  the  Me  use  between  Namur  '^  1^- 
and  C'harleroi,  the  advance  guard  of  the  German  army  appeared 
ill  the  iirst  fortnight  in  August,  and  in  this  as  well  as  in  otJier 
vilUiges  in  the  district,  it  is  proved  that  a  large  number  oL' 
civilians,  among  them  aged  people,  women  and  children,  were 
deliberateh'  killed  by  the  soldiers.  One  Avitness  describes  how 
she  saw  a  Belgian  boy  of  fifteen  shot  on  the  village  green  at 
Tamines,  and  a  day  or  two  later  on  the  same  green  a  little  girl 
and  her  two  brothers  (name  given)  who  Avere  looking  at  the 
(lerman  soldiers,  were  killed  before  her  eyes  for  no  apparent 
reason. 

The  principal  massacre  at  Tamines  took  place  about  August         b  15. 
the  23rd.     A  witness  describes  how  he  saw  the  public  square 
littered  with  corpses,  and  after  a  search  found  those  of  his  wife 
and  child,  a  little  girl  of  seven. 

Another  witness,   who  lived  near  Tamines,  went  there  on  ^  20. 

August  27th,  and  says :  "It  is  absolutely  destroyed  and  a  mass 
of  ruins." 

At  Morlanwelz,  about  this  time,  the  British  army,  together  ^  16. 

with  some  French  cavalry  were  compelled  to  retire  before  the 
Cjerman  troops.  The  latter  took  the  burgomaster  and  his  man- 
servant prisoner  and  shot  them  both  in  front  of  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  at  Peronne  (Belgium),  where  the  bodies  Avere  left  in  the 
street  for  48  hours.  They  burnt  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  62 
houses.  The  usual  accusation  of  firing  by  civilians  was  made. 
It  is  strenuously  denied  by  the  witness,  Avho  declares  that  three 
or  four  days  before  the  arrival  of  the  Germans,  circulars  had 
been  distributed  to  every  house  and  placards  had  been  posted 
in  the  tOAvn  ordering  the  deposit  of  all  firearms  at  the  Hotel  de 
Ville  and  that  this  order  had  been  complied  with. 

At  Monceau-sur-Sambre,  on  the  2Ist  August,  a  young  man  of  b  17. 

eighteen  was  shot  in  his  garden.  His  father  and  brother  were 
seized  in  their  house  and  shot  in  the  courtyard  of  a  neighbouring 
country  house.  The  son  Avas  shot  first.  The  father  Avas 
compelled  to  stand  close  to  the  feet  of  liis  son's  corpse  and  to  fix 
liis  eyes  upon  him  Avhile  he  himself  Avas  shot.  The  corpse 
of  the  young  man  shot  in  the  garden  Avas  carried  into  the 
house  and  put  on  a  bed.  The  next  morning  the  Germans  asked 
Avliere  the  corpse  was.  When  they  found  it  Avas  in  the  house, 
they  fetched  straw,  packed  it  round  the  bed  on  which  the  corpse 
Avas  lying  and  set  fire  to  it  and  burnt  the  house  doAvn.  A  great 
many  houses  Avere  burnt  in  Monceau. 

A  A'ivid  picture  of  the  events  at  ^lontigny-sur-Sambre  has  b  18. 

been  given  by  a  witness  of  high  standing  Avho  had  exceptional 

B  2 


18 

0|)p()rtiniiti('s  oF  (observation.  In  the  early  morning  ot"  Saturday, 
August  w2n(l,  Uiilansnnielied  Montigny.  The  Frencli  army  Avas 
about  4  kilometres  away,  but  on  a  hill  near  the  village  were  a 
(lotachmont  ol'  Fi-eneh  about  150  to  200  strong  lying  in  ambush. 
At  al)out  J .')()  the  nuiin  body  of  tlie  German  army  began  to  arrive. 
Marching  with  them  were  two  groups  of  so-called  hostages,  about 
100  in  all.  Of  these,  300  were  surrounded  with  a  rope  held  by 
the  front,  rear,  and  outside  men.  The  French  troops  in  ambush 
opened  fire,  and  immediately  the  (lermans  commenced  to  destroy 
the  town.  Incendiaries  with  a  distinctive  badge  on  their  arm 
went  down  the  main  street  throwing  handfvds  of  inilammatory 
and  explosive  pastilles  into  the  houses.  These  pastilles  were 
carried  by  them  in  bags,  and  in  this  way  about  130  houses  were 
destroyed  in  the  main  street.  By  10.30  p.m.  some  200  move 
hostages  had  been  collected.  These  were  drawn  from  Montigny 
itself,  and  on  that  night  about  50  men,  women,  and  children 
wei-e  placed  on  the  bridge  over  the  Sambre  and  kept  there  all 
night.  The  bridge  was  similarly  guarded  for  a  day  or  two, 
apparently  either  from  a  fear  that  it  was  mined  or  in  the  belief 
that  these  men,  women,  and  children  would  alford  some  pro- 
tection to  the  Germans  in  the  event  of  the  French  attempting  to 
storm  the  bridge.  At  one  period  of  the  German  occupation  of 
Montigny,  eight  nuns  of  the  Order  of  Ste.  Marie  were  captives 
on  the  bridge.  House  burning  was  accompanied  b}-  murder, 
and  on  the  Monday  morning  27  civilians  from  one  parish  alone 
were  seen  lying  dead  in  the  hospital. 

Other  outrages  committed  at  Jumet,  Bouffioulx,  Charleroi, 
Marchiennes-au-Pont,  Couillet,  and  Maubeuge  are  described  in 
the  depositions  given  in  the  Appendix. 

DiNANT. 

A  clear  statement  of  the  outrages  at  Dinant,  which  many 
20.  travellers  -will  recall  as  a  singularly  picturesque  town  on  the 
b.  30.  ]\Ieuse,  is  given  by  one  witness,  wdio  says  that  the  Germans 
began  burning  houses  in  the  Hue  St.  Jacques  on  the  21st  August, 
and  that  every  house  in  the  street  was  burnt.  On  the  following 
day  an  engagement  took  place  betw^een  the  French  and  the 
Germans,  and  the  witness  spent  the  whole  day  in  the  cellar  of 
a  bank  with  his  wife  and  children.  On  the  morning  of  the 
23rd,  about  5  o'clock,  firing  ceased,  and  almost  inmiediately 
afterwards  a  party  of  Germans  came  to  the  house.  They  rang 
the  bell  and  began  to  batter  at  the  door  and  windows.  The 
witness's  wife  went  to  the  door  and  two  or  three  Germans  came 
in.  The  family  were  ordered  out  into  the  street.  There  they 
found  another  family,  and  the  two  families  were  driven  Avith 
their  hands  above  their  heads  along  the  Rue  Grande.  All  the 
houses  in  the  street  were  burning.  The  party  Avas  eventually 
put  into  a  forge  where  there  were  a  number  of  other  prisoners, 
about  a  hundred  in  all,  and  were  kept  there  fi'om  11  a.m.  tiU 


'.I.  <: 


19 

2  p.m.  They  were  then  taken  to  the  prison.  There  they  were 
assembled  in  a  courtyard  and  searched.  No  arms  were  found. 
They  were  then  passed  througli  into  tlie  prison  itself  and 
put  into  cells.  The  witness  and  his  wife  were  separated 
from  each  other.  During  the  next  hour  the  witness  heard 
rifle  shots  continually,  and  noticed  in  the  corner  of  a  court- 
yard leading  off  the  row  of  cells  the  body  of  a  young  man  with  a 
mantle  thrown  over  it.  He  recognised  the  mantle  as  having 
belonged  to  his  wife.  The  witness's  daughter  was  allowed  to 
go  out  to  see  what  had  happened  to  her  mother,  and  the  witness 
himself  was  allowed  to  go  across  the  courtyard  half  an  hour 
afterwards  for  the  same  purpose.  He  found  his  wife  lying  on 
the  floor  in  a  room.  She  had  bullet  wounds  in  four  places,  but 
was  alive  and  told  her  husband  to  return  t(i  the  children,  and 
he  did  so.  About  5  o'clock  in  the  evening  he  saw  the  Germans 
bringing  out  all  the  young  and  middle-aged  men  from  the  cells, 
and  ranging  their  prisoners,  to  the  number  of  40,  in  three  rows 
in  the  middle  of  the  courtyard.  About  20  Germans  were 
drawn  up  opposite,  l)ut  before  anything  Avas  done  there  was  a 
tremendous  fusillade  from  some  point  near  the  prison  and  the 
civilians  were  hurried  back  to  their  cells.  Half  an  houi-  later 
the  same  40  men  were  brought  back  into  the  courtyard. 
Almost  immediately  there  was  a  second  fusillade  like  the  first 
and  they  were  driven  back  to  the  cells  again.  About  7  o'clock 
the  witness  and  other  prisoners  were  brought  out  of  their  cells 
and  marched  out  of  the  prison.  They  went  between  two  lines 
of  troops  to  Roche  Baj^ard  about  a  kilometre  away.  An  hour 
later  the  women  and  children  were  separated  and  the  prisoners 
were  brought  back  to  Dinant,  passing  the  prison  on  their  way. 
Just  outside  the  prison  the  witness  saw  three  lines  of  bodies 
which  he  recognised  as  being  those  of  neighbours.  They  were 
nearly  all  dead,  l:)ut  he  noticed  movement  in  some  of  them. 
There  were  about  120  bodies.  The  prisoners  were  then  taken 
up  to  the  top  of  the  hill  outside  Dinant  and  compelled  to  stay 
there  till  8  o'clock  in  the  morning.  On  the  following  day  they 
were  put  into  cattle  trucks  and  taken  thence  to  Coblenz.  For 
three  months  tliey  remained  prisoners  in  Germany. 

Unarmed  civifians  were  killed  in  masses  at  other  places  near  b  2C,. 

the  prison.  About  !)<)  bodies  were  seen  lying  on  the  top  of  one 
another  in  a  grass  sc[uare  opposite  tlie  convent.  They  included 
many  relatives  of  a  witness  whose  deposition  will  be  found  in 
the  Appendix.  This  witness  asked  a  German  officer  why  her 
husband  had  been  shot,  and  he  told  her  that  it  was  because  two 
of  her  sons  had  been  in  the  civil  guard  and  had  shot  at  the 
Germans.  As  a  matter  of  fact  one  of  her  sons  was  at  that  time 
in  Liege  and  the  other  in  Brussels.  It  is  stated  that  beside  the 
90  corpses  referred  to  above,  60  corpses  of  civilians  were 
recovered  from  a  hole  in  the  brewerj-  yard  and  that  48  bodies  of  b  27. 
women  and  childi'en  were  found  in  a  garden.  The  town  was 
systematically  set  on  fire  by  hand  grenades. 


20 

l>  28.  Another  wltneRs  sr<u'  a  Utile  givl  of  seven,  one  of  whose  legs 

was  broken  and  tlie  otlier  injnred  hy  a  bayonet. 

We  liavo  no  reason  to  believe  that  tlie  civilian  population  of 
Dinant  gave  any  pi*ovoeation,  or  that  any  other  defence  can  he 
put  foiward  to  justify  the  treatment  inflicted  ujDon  its  citizens. 

As  regards  this  town  and  the  advance  of  the  Gennan  army 
from  Dinant  to  Retliel  on  the  x\isne,  a  graphic  account  is  given 
Appendix  B.  [^  the  diary  of  a  Saxon  officer/  This  diary  confirms  what  is 
clear  from  the  evidence  as  a  whole  both  as  regards  these  and 
other  districts,  that  civilians  were  constantly  taken  as  prisoners, 
often  dragged  from  their  homes  and  shot  under  the  direction  of 
the  authorities  without  any  charge  being  made  against  them. 
An  event  of  the  kind  is  ilms  referred  to  in  a  diary  entiy : 
"  Apparently  200  men  were  shot.  There  must  have  been 
"  some  innocent  men  amongst  them.  In  future  we  shall  have 
"  to  hold  an  inquiry  as  to  their  guilt  instead  of  shooting  them." 
The  shooting  of  inhabitants,  women  and  children  as  well  as 
men,  went  on  after  tlie  Germans  had  passed  Dinant  on  their 
way  into  France.  The  houses  and  villages  were  pillaged  and 
property  wantonly  destroyed. 


THE   AERSCHOT,   MALINES,   VILVORDE,  AND 
LOUVAIN   QUADRANGLE.- 

About  August  9  a  powerful  screen  of  cavalry  masking  the 
general  advance  of  the  first  and  second  German  armies  was 
thrown  forw^ard  into  the  provinces  of  Brabant  and  Limburg 
The  progress  of  the  invaders  w^as  contested  at  several  points, 
probaljly  near  Tirlemont  on  the  Louvain  road,  and  at  Diest, 
Haelen,  and  Schaffen,  on  the  Aerschot  road,  by  detachments  o: 
the  main  Belgian  army  w^hicli  was  drawn  up  upon  the  line  of 
the  Dyle.  In  their  preliminary  skirmishes  the  Belgians  more 
than  once  gained  advantages,  but  after  the  fall  on  August  15 
of  the  last  of  the  Liege  forts,  the  great  line  of  railway  which 
runs  through  Liege  towards  Brussels  and  Antwerp  in  one 
direction  and  towards  Namur  and  the  French  frontier  in 
another,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans.  From  thisi 
moment  the  advance  of  the  main  army  was  swift  and  irre 
sistible.  On  August  19  Louvain  and  Aerschot  were  occuiDied 
by  the  Germans,  the  former  wdthout  resistance,  the  latter  after 
a  struggle  which  resulted  early  in  the  day  in  the  retirement  of 

^  A  copy  of  this  diary  was  given  by  the  French  military  authorities  to 
the  British  Headquarters  Staif  in  France,  and  the  latter  have  communicated 
it  to  the  Committee.  It  will  be  found  in  Appendix  B.  after  the  German 
diaries  shown  to  us  by  the  British  War  Office. 

\  special  map  of  this  district  will  be  found  facing  page  15. 


i 


21 

the   Belgian  army  upon  Antwerp.     On  August  20  tlie  invaders 
made  their  entry  into  Bi-ussols. 

The  quadrangle  of  territory  bounded  by  the  towns  of 
Aerschot,  Malines,  Vilvorde,  and  Louvaiu,  is  a  rich  agricultural 
tract,  studded  with  small  villages  and  comprising  two  con- 
siderable cities,  Louvain  and  Malines.  This  district  on 
iVugust  19  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans,  and,  owing 
perhaps  to  its  proximity  to  Antwerp,  then  the  seat  of  the 
Belgian  Government  and  headquarters  of  the  Belgian  army, 
it  became  from  that  date  a  scene  of  chronic  outrage,  with 
respect  to  which  the  Committee  has  received  a  great  mass  of 
evidence. 

The  witnesses  to  these  occurrences  are  for  the  most  part 
imperfectly  educated  persons  who  cannot  give  accurate  dates, 
so  it  is  impossible  in  some  cases  to  fix  the  dates  of  particular 
crimes ;  and  the  total  number  of  outrages  is  so  great  that  we 
cannot  refer  to  all  of  them  in  the  body  of  the  report  or  give 
all  the  depositions  relating  to  them  in  the  Appendix.  The 
main  events,  however,  are  abundantly  clear,  and  group  them- 
selves naturally  round  three  dates — August  19th,  August  25th, 
and  September  lltli. 

The  arrival  of  the  Germans  in  the  district  on  August  the  19tli 
was  marked  by  systematic  massacres  and  other  outrages  at 
Aerschot  itself,  Gelrode  and  some  other  villages. 

On  August  25th  the  Belgians,  sallying  out  of  the  defences  of 
Antwerp,  attacked  the  German  positions  at  Malines,  drove  the 
enemy  from  the  town  and  reoccupied  many  of  the  villages, 
such  as  Sempst,  Hofstade,  and  Eppeghem,  in  the  neighbourhood. 
And  just  as  numerous  outrages  against  the  civilian  population 
had  been  the  immediate  consequence  of  the  temporary  repulse  of 
the  German  vanguard  from  Fort  Fleron,  so  a  large  body  of 
depositions  testify  to  the  fact  that  a  sudden  outburst  of  cruelty 
Avas  the  response  of  the  German  army  to  the  Belgian  victory  at 
Malines.  The  advance  of  the  German  army  to  the  Dyle  had 
been  accompanied  by  reprehensible  and  indeed  (in  certain  k  1  to  k  4 
cases)  terrible  outrages,  but  these  had  been,  it  would  appear, 
isolated  acts,  some  of  which  are  attributed  by  witnesses  to 
indignation  at  the  check  at  Haelen,  while  others  may  have  been 
the  consequence  of  drunkenness.  But  the  battle  of  ^Malines  had 
results  of  a  different  order.  In  the  first  place  it  was  the  occasion 
of  numerous  murders  committed  by  the  German  army  in 
retreating  through  the  villages  of  Sempst,  Hofstade,  Eppeghem, 
Elewyt,  and  elsewhere.  In  the  second  place,  it  led,  as  it  will  be 
shown  later,  to  the  massacres,  plunderings,  and  burnings  at 
fjouvaiu,  the  signal  for  which  was  provided  by  shots  exchanged 
between  the  German  army  retreating  after  its  repulse  at  Malines 
and  some  members  of  the  German  garrison  of  Louvain,  who 
mistook  their  fellow  countrymen  for  Belgians.  Lastly,  the 
encounter  at  ]\Ialines  seems  to  have  stung  the  Germans  into 
establishing  a  i-eign  of  terror  in  so  much  of  the  district  com- 


22 

prised  in  the  qiiadran^U^  as  remained  in  tlioir  power.  Many 
houses  -were  destroyed  and  their  contents  stolen.  Hundreds  of 
prisoners  Avere  locked  up  in  various  churclies,  and  were  in  some 
instances  marched  about,  from  one  village  to  another.  vSome  of 
these  were  finally  conducted  to  Louvain  and  linked  up  with 
the  bands  of  prisoners  taken  in  Louvain  itself,  and  sent  to 
Germany  and  elsewhere. 

On  September  11th,  when  the  Germans  Avere  driven  out  of 
Aerschot  across  the  river  Demer  by  a  successful  sortie  from 
Antwerp,  murders  of  civilians  were  taking  place  in  the  villages 
Avhich  the  Belgian  army  then  recaptured  from  the  Germans. 
These  crimes  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  those  committed  in 
Hofstade  and  other  villages  after  the  battle  of  Malines. 


Aerschot  and  Distuict. 

Period  I.  (August  19th  and  following  days). 

Aehschot. 

c  1.    ■  The    German    army    entered    7\erschot    quite   early   in    the 

morning.  Workmen  going  to  their  Avork  were  seized  and 
taken  as  hostages. 

c  3.  The  Germans,   apparently   already    irritated,  proceeded   to 

make  a  search  for  the  priests  and  threatened  to  burn  the  convent 
if  the  priests  should  happen  to  be  found  there.  One  priest  Avas 
accused  of  inciting  the  inhabitants  to  fire  on  the  troops,  and 
wdien  he  denied  it,  the  Burgomaster  Avas  blamed  by  the  officer, 
c  20.  The  priest  then  shoAved  the  officer  the  notices  on  the  walls, 
signed  by  the  Burgomaster,  Avarning  the  inhabitants  not  to 
intervene  in  hostilities. 

c  3.  It  appears  that  they  accused  the  priest  of  having  fired  at  the 

Germans  from  the  toAver  of  the  church.  This  is  important, 
because  it  is  one  of  the  not  infrequent  cases  in  which  the 
Germans  ascribed  firing  from  a  church  to  priests,  Avhereas  in 
fact  this  iiring  came  from  Belgian  soldiers,  and  also  because  it 
seems  to  shoAv  that  the  Germans  from  the  moment  of  theii- 
arrival  in  Aerschot,  Avere  seeking  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  the 
inhabitants,    and    this   goes   far   to   explain    their    subsequent 

c  1.  conduct.  Hostages  Avere  collected,  until  200  men,  some  of 
Avhom  Avere  invalids,  were  gathered  together. 
1.  c.  <).  c  15.  JMonsieur  Tielmans,  the  Burgomaster,  was  then  ordered  by 
some  German  officers  to  address  the  crowd  and  to  tell  them  to 
hand  in  any  Aveapons  Avhich  they  might  have  in  their  possession 
at  the  ToAvn  Hall,  and  to  Avarn  them  that  anyone  Avho  Avas  found 
c  1,  c  4.  with  Aveapons  Avould  be  killed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  arms 
in  the  possession  of  civilians  had  already  been  collected  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Avar.  The  Burgomaster's  speech  resulted  in 
the  delivery  of  one  gun  Avhich  had  been  used  for  pigeon 
shooting.     The  hostages  Avere  then  released.     Throughout  the 

c  7.         day  the  town  Avas  looted  by  the  soldiers.     Many  shop  AvindoA\'s 
Avei'c  broken,  and  the  contents  of  the  shop  fi-onts  ransacked. 


2?> 

A  shot  was  fired  about  7  o'clock  in  the  evening,  hy  which  ^  7. 
time  many  of  the  soldiers  were  drunk.  The  Gennana  were  not 
of  one  mind  as  to  the  direction  from  which  the  shot  proceeded. 
Some  said  it  came  from  a  jeweller's  shop,  and  some  said  it  came 
from  other  houses.  No  one  was  hit  by  this  shot,  l)ut  thereafter 
German  soldiers  began  to  fire  in  various  directions  at  people  in 
the  streets. 

It  is  said  that  a  German  general  or  colonel  was  killed  at  the 
Burgomaster's  house.  As  far  as  the  Committee  have  been  able 
to  ascertain,  the  identity  of  the  officer  has  never  been  revealed. 
The  German  version  of  the  story  is  that  he  was  killed  hj  the 
fifteen-year-old  son  of  the  Burgomaster  ;  the  Committee,  how-  c  7. 

ever,  is  satisfied  by  the  evidence  of  several  independent 
witnesses  that  some  German  officers  were  standing  at  the 
window  of  the  Burgomaster's  house,  that  a  large  body  of 
Gennan  troops  were  in  the  square,  that  some  of  these  soldiers 
Avere  drunk  and  let  off  their  rifles,  that  in  the  A'olley  one  of  the 
officers  standing  at  the  window  of  the  Burgomaster's  house  fell, 
that  at  the  time  of  the  accident  tlie  wife  and  son  of  the  Burgo- 
master had  gone  to  take  refuge  in  the  cellar,  and  that  neither 
the  Burgomaster  nor  his  son  were  in  the  least  degree  respon- 
sible for  the  occurrence  which  served  as  the  pretext  for  their 
subsequent  execution,  and  for  the  firing  and  sack  of  the  town.  •• 

*  This  account  agrees  substantially  with  that  given  in  a  letter,  written 
hy  Mine.  Tielmans,  the  Burgomaster's  wife,  which  is  printed  in  the  fifth 
report  of  the  Belgian  Commission.     The  letter  is  as  follows  : 

•'  This  is  how  it  happened,  About  4  in  the  afternoon  my  husband 
Avas  giving  cigars  to  the  sentinels  stationed  at  the  door.  I  saw  that 
the  General  and  his  Aides-de-Camp  were  looking  at  us  from  the 
balcony,  and  told  him  to  come  indoors.  Just  then  I  looked  towards 
the  Grand  Place,  where  more  than  2,000  Germans  were  encamped, 
and  distinctly  saw  two  columns  of  smoke  followed  by  a  fusilade :  the 
Germans  were  firing  on  the  houses,  and  forcing  their  way  into  them. 
My  husband,  children,  servant,  and  myself  had  just  time  to  dash  into 
the  staircase  leading  to  the  cellar.  The  Germans  were  even  firing 
into  the  passages  of  the  houses.  After  a  few  minutes  of  indescribable 
hoiTor,  one  of  the  Generals  Aides-de-Camp  came  down  and  said : 
'  The  General  is  dead,  where  is  the  Burgomaster  ?  '  My  husband  said 
to  me,  '  This  will  be  serious  for  me.'  As  he  went  forward,  T  said  to 
the  Aide-de-Camp,  '  You  can  see  for  yovirself.  sir,  that  my  husband 
did  not  fire.'  '  That  makes  no  difference,'  he  said.  '  he  is  responsible.* 
My  husband  was  taken  oft".  My  son,  who  was  at  my  side,  took  us 
into  another  cellar.  The  same  A-ide-de-Camp  came  and  dragged  him 
out,  and  made  him  walk  in  front  of  him,  kicking  him  as  he  went.  The 
poor  boy  could  hardly  walk.  That  morning  when  they  came  to  the 
to\vn  the  Germans  had  fired  through  the  windows  of  the  houses,  and  a 
bullet  had  come  into  the  room  where  my  son  was,  and  he  had  been 
wounded  in  the  calf  by  the  ricochet.  After  my  hiisband  and  son  had 
gone,  I  was  dragijed  all  through  the  house  by  Germans,  with  their 
revolvers  levelled  at  my  head.  I  was  compelled  to  see  their  dead 
General.  Then  my  daughter  and  I  were  thrown  into  the  street 
without  cloaks  or  anything.  We  were  massed  in  the  Grand  Place, 
sin-rounded  by  a  cordon  of  soldiers,  and  comiielled  to  witness  the 
destruction  of  our  beloved  town.  And  then  by  the  liideoiis  light  of 
the  fire  I  saw  them  for  the  last  time,  about  one  in  the  morning,  my 
husband  and  my  boy  tied  together.  My  brother-in-law  was  behind 
them.     They  were  being  led  out  to  execution." 


24 

19,c", cl').        The  houses  were  set  on  fire  with  special  apparatus,  while 

people  were  dragged   from  their  houses  already  burning,  and 

some  were  shot  in  the  streets. 

5;  c  6.  c  13.         Many    civilians    were    marched    to  a    field  oil    the    road    to 

Louvain  and  kept   there   all  night.     Meanwhile   many  of  the 

c  9.         inhabitants  Avere  collected  in  the  square.     By  this  time  very 

many  of  the  troops  were  drunk. 

c  6:  c  S.  On  tlic  following  day  a  number  of  the  civilians  w(U'e  shot 

uiidei"  tlie  orders  of  an  officer,  together  with  the  Burgomaster, 

his  brother  and  his  son.     Of  this  incident,  which  is  spoken  to 

by  many  witnesses,  a  clear  account  is  given  :  "  German  soldiers 

"  came  and  took  hold  of  me  and  every  other  man  they  could 

see,  and  eventually  there  were  about  60  of  us,  including  some 
"  of  eighty  (i.e.,  years  of  age),  and  they  made  us  accompany 
"  them  ....  all  the  prisoners  had  to  walk  with  their  hands 
"  above  their  heads.  We  Avere  then  stopped  and  made  to 
"  stand  in  a  line,  and  an  officer,  a  big  fat  man  who  had  a 

blueish  unifoj-m  ....  came  along  the  line  and  picked  out 
"  the  Burgomaster,  his  brother,  and  his  son,  and  some  men 
"  who  had  been  emploj^ed  under  the  Red  Cross.  In  all,  ten 
"  men  were  picked  out  ....  the  remainder  Avere  made  to 
"  turn  their  backs  upon  the  ten.      1  then  heard  some  shots 

fired,  and  I  and  the  other  men  turned  round  and  we  saw  all 
"  the  ten  men,  including  the  Bui-gomaster,  Avere  lying  on  the 
<>  "  ground."     This  incident  is  spoken  to  by  other  witnesses  also: 
some  of  their  depositions  appear  in  the  Appendix. 


Gelrode. 

c  39.  On  the  same  day,    at   Gelrode,    a   small   village    close   to 

Aerschot,  25  civilians  Avere  imprisoned  in  the  church ;  seven 
were  taken  out  by  15  German  soldiers  in  charge  of  an  officer 
just  outside.  One  of  the  seven  tried  to  run  aAvay,  whereupon 
all  the  six  Avho  remained  behind  aliA^e  were  shot.  This  Avas 
on  the  night  of  the  19th  August.  No  provocation  whatever 
had  been  given.  The  men  in  question  had  been  searched,  and 
no  arms  had  been  found  upon  them.  Here,  as  at  Aerschot, 
precautions  had  been  taken  prcA'-iously  to  secure  the  delivery 
up  of  all  arms  in  the  hands  of  civilians. 

c  41.  Some  of  the  surviA^ors  Avere   compelled  to  dig  graves  for  the 

c  42.  seA'^en.  At  a  later  date  the  corpses  were  disinterred  and  re- 
buried  in  consecrated  ground.  The  marks  of  the  bullets  in  the 
brick   Avail    against  Avhicli  the    six  were    shot  Avere    then    still 

^  plainly  visible.     On  the  same  day  a  woman  AA'as  shot  by  some 

German  soldiers  as  she  Avas  Avalking  home.  This  was  done  at 
a  distance  of  100  yards  and  for  no  apparent  reason. 

c  46.  An  account  oi  a  murder  by  an  officer  at  Campenhout   is 

48-c  52.  given  in  a  later  part  of  this  Report,  and  depositions  relating  to 
53-c  59.  Rotselaer,  Tremeloo,  and  Wespelaer  Avill  be  found  in  the 
;)0-c  <u.     Appendix. 


25 

The  Committee  is  specially  impressed  by  the  character  of 
the  outrages  committed  in  the  smaller  villages.  Many  of  these 
arc  exceptionally  shocking  and  cannot  be  regarded  as  contem- 
plated or  prescribed  by  the  responsible  commanders  of  the 
troops  by  whom  they  were  committed.  The  inference,  however, 
which  we  draw  from  these  occurrences  is  that  when  once  troops 
have  been  encouraged  in  a  career  of  terrorism,  the  more  savage 
and  brutal  natures,  of  whom  there  are  some  in  eveiy  large  arm}^ 
are  liable  to  run  to  wild  excess,  more  particularly  in  those 
regions  where  they  are  least  subject  to  observation  and  control. 


Aerschot  and  District.  : '  "' 

Period  II.  (August  25th.) 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Malines,  which  resulted  in 
tlie  evacuation  by  the  Germans  of  the  district  of  Malines, 
Sempst,  Hofstade,  and  Eppeghem,  a  long  series  of  murders 
were  committed  either  just  before  or  during  the  retreat  of  the 
army.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  who  were  unarmed,  including 
women  and  young  children,  were  killed — some  of  them  under 
revolting  circumstances. 

Evidence  given  goes  to  show  that  the  death  of  these  villagers 
was  due  not  to  accident  but  to  deliberate  purpose.  The  wounds 
were  generally  stabs  or  cuts,  and  for  the  most  part  appear  to 
have  been  inflicted  with  the  bayonet. 

Malines. 

In  Malines  itself  many  bodies  were  seen.     One  witness  saw         d  1. 
a  German  soldier  cut  a  woman's  breasts  after  he  had  murdered 
her,  and  saw  many  other  dead  bodies  of  women  in  the  streets. 

Hofstade. 

In  Hofstade  a  number  of  houses  had  been  set  on  fire  and    d  l<>-d  6'. 
many  corpses   were  seen,  some  in  houses,  some  in  back  yards, 
and  some  in  the  streets. 

Several  examples  are  given  below. 

Two  witnesses   speak  to  having  seen  the  body  of  a  j'oung    d  B4,  d  tir,. 
man  pierced  by  bayonet  thrusts  with  the  wrists  cut  also. 

On  a  side  road  the  corpse  of  a  civilian  was  seen  on  his         d  ;Jo. 
doorstep  with  a  bayonet  wound  in  his  stomach,  and  by  his  side 
the  dead  body  of  a  boy  of  five  or  six  with  his  hands  nearly 
severed. 

The  corpses  of  a  woman,  and  boy  were  seen  at  the  black-         d  .11. 
smith's.     They  had  been  killed  with  the  bayonet. 

In  a  cafe  a  young  man,  also  killed  with  the  bayonet  was         d  16. 
holding  his  hands  together  as  if  in  the  attitude  of  supplication. 


20 

d  15.  Two  young  womon  were  lying  hi  the  backyard  of  the  honse. 

(Jne  had  lier  breasts  cut  olT,  the  otlier  liad  been  stabbed. 
d  52.  A  young  man  liad  been  hacked  with  the  Imyonet  until  his 

entrails   protruded.      Pie   also    had    his   hands   joined    in   the 

attitude  of  prayer. 
d  13,  In  the  garden  of  a  house  in  the  main   street,  bodies  of  two 

women  were  observed,  and  in  another  house  the  body  of  a  boy 

of  II)  Avith  two  l)ayonet  wounds  in  the  chest. 

Sempst. 

In  Sempst  a  similar  condition  of  affairs  existed.  Houses 
Avere  burning,  and  in  some  of  them  were  the  charred  remains 
of  civilians. 

In  a  bicycle  shop  a  Avitness  saAv  the  burned  corpse  of  a  man. 
Other  Avitnesses  speak  to  this  incident. 

d  67.  Another    civilian,   unarmed,  Avas    shot  as  he  was    running 

aAiVay.  As  Avill  be  remembered  all  the  arms  had  been  given  up 
some  time  before  by  order  of  the  burgomaster. 

d  83.  The  corpse  of  a  man  Avith  his  legs  cut  off,  Avho  Avas  partly 

bound,  Avas  seen  by  another  Avitness,  Avho  also  saw  a  girl  of 
scA-euteen  dressed  only  in  a  chemise  and  in  great  distress.  She 
alleged  that  she  herself  and  other  girls  had  been  dragged  into  a 
field,  stripped  naked  and  Adolated,  and  that  some  of  them  had 
been  killed  Avith  the  bayonet. 

d  84.  Weerde. — At  Weerde  four  corpses  of  civilians  were  lying  in 

the  road.  It  was  said  that  these  men  had  fired  upon  the 
(lerman  soldiers  ;  but  this  is  denied.  The  arms  had  been 
given  up  long  before. 

(1  Hr>.  Two  children  Avere  killed  in  a  village,  apparently  Weerde, 

quite  wantonly  as  they  were  standing  in  the  road  Avith  their 
mother.  They  were  three  or  four  years  old  and  Avere  killed 
Avith.  the  bayonet. 

A  small  farm  burning  close  by  formed  a  convenient  means 
of  getting  rid  of  the  bodies.  They  Avere  throAvn  into  llie  flames 
from  the  bayonets.  It  is  right  to  add  that  no  commissioned 
officer  Avas  present  at  this  time. 

d  ST.  Eppeghem. — At  Eppeghem,  on  the  25th  of  August,  a  pregnant 

woman  Avho  had  been  Avounded  with  a  bayonet  Avas  discovered 
in  the  Convent.  She  Avas  dying.  On  the  road  six  dead  bodies 
of  labourers  Avere  seen. 

d  90.  Eleavyt. — At  Elewyt  a  man's  naked  body  Avas  tied  up  to  a 

ring  in  the  Avail  in  the  backyard  of  a  house.  He  Avas  dead,  and 
his  corpse  \A^as  mutilated  in  a  manner  too  horrible  to  record. 
A  AA^oman's  naked  body  was  also  found  in  a  stable  abutting  on 
the  same  backyard. 

d  J>2.  ViLVORDE. — At  A^ih'orde  corpses  of  civilians  were  also  found. 

These  villages  are  all  on  the  line  fi'om  Malines  to  Brussels. 

.1  'M.  BooRT  Meerbeek. — At  Boort   Meerbeek  a   German  soldier 

was  seen  to  fire  three  times  at  a  little   girl   of  fiA^e  years  old. 


27 

Having  failed  to  liit  lier,  he  subsequently  bayoneted  her.  He 
was  killed  with  the  butt  end  of  a  rifle  by  a  Belgian  soldier  who 
had  seen  him  commit  this  murder  from  a  distance. 

Herent. — At    Herent  tlie  charred   body  of  a  civilian   was        <3  ^5. 
found  in  a  butcher's  shop,  and  in  a  hand  cart  20  yards  away 
Avas  the  dead  body  of  a  labourer. 

Two   eye-witnesses    relate   that   a    German    soldier   shot   a        <1 07. 
civilian  and  stabbed  him  with  a  bayonet  as  he  lay.     He   then         il  •*'^- 
made  one  of  these  witnesses,  a  civilian  prisoner,  smell  the  blood 
on  the  bayonet. 

Haecht.- — At  Haecht  the  bodies  of  10  civilians  were  seen  d  101.  d  lol, 
lying  in  a  row  by  a  brewery  wall.  li  1*'5. 

In  a  labourer's  house,  which  had  been  broken  up,  the 
mutilated  corpse  of  a  woman  of  30  to  35  was  discovered. 

A  child  of  three  with  its  stomach  cut  open  by  a  bayonet  was 
lying  near  a  house. 

Werchter. — At  Werchter  the  corpses  of  a  man  and  Avonian        d  110. 
and-  four  younger  persons  were  found  in  one  liouse.     It  is  stated 
that  they  had  been  murdered  because  one  of  the  latter,  a  girl, 
would  not  allow  the  Germans  to  outrage  her. 

This  catalogue  of  crimes  does  not  by  any  means  represent 
the  sum  total  of  the  depositions  relating  to  this  district  laid 
before  the  Conmiittee.  The  above  are  given  merely  as  examples 
of  acts  which  the  evidence  shows  to  have  taken  place  in 
numbers  that  might  have  seemed  scarcely  credible. 

In  the  rest  of  the  district,  that  is  to  say,  Aerschot  and  the 
otlier  villages  from  which  the  Germans  had  not  been  driven,  the 
eifect  of  the  battle  was  to  cause  a  recrudescence  of  murder,  arson, 
pillage,  and  cruelty,  which  had  to  some  extent  died  down  after 
the  20th  or  21st  August. 

In  Aerschot  itself  fresh  prisoners  seem  to  have  been  taken  c  2. 

and  added  to  those  who  were  already  in  the  church,  since  it 
would  appear  that  prisoners  Avere  kept  to  some  extent  in  the 
church  during  the  whole  of  the  German  occupation  of  Aerschot. 
The  second  occasion  on  which  large  numbers  of  prisonei-s  were 
put  there  was  shortly  after  the  battle  of  Malines,  and  it  was  . 
then  that  the  j)riest  of  (ielrode  was  brought  to  Aerschot  church,  c  2t.  c  25, 
treated  abominably  and  finally  murdered.  c  26. 

One  witness  describes  the  scene  graphically:   "  The  whole         c  2o. 

of  the  prisoners — men,  women,  and  children — were  placed  in 

the  church.     Nobody  was  allowed  to  go  outside  the  church 

to  obey  the  calls  of  nature.     The  churcli  had  to  be  used  for 

that  purpose.     We  were  afterwards  allowed  to  go  outside  the 

church  for  this  purpose,   and   then  I  saw  the  clergyman  of 

Gelrode  standing  by  the  wall  of  the  church  with  his  hands 

above  his  head,  being  guarded   by   soldiers."     The   actual 

details  of  the  murder  of  the  priest  are  as  follows  :  The  priest 

was  struck  several  times  by  the  soldiers  on  the  head.     He  was 

I'lislicd  up  against  the  wall  of  the  church.     He  asked  in  Flemish 


2S 

to  be  ullowed  lo  slaiid  with  his  lace  to  llu!  wall,  and  incd  to 
turn  round.  'I'hc  Cicruians  stopped  liiiu,  and  then  tunied  liini 
with  liis  I'ace  to  tlie  wall,  with  liis  liands  above  liis  head.  An 
liour  later  the  same  witness  saw  the  priest  still  standing  there. 
He  was  then  led  away  by  the  (lernians  a  distance  oj:  about 
50  yards.  Tliere,  witli  liis  face  against  the  wall  of  a  house,  he 
Avas  shot  by  fiv^c  soldiers. 

Other  murders  of  Avhich  we  Jiave   evidence  appear  in  the 

Appendix. 

-■  b5.  Some   of    the   prisoners   in    the   church    at    Acrschot   were 

c  20.        actually  kept   there  until   the  arrival  of  the   Belgian  army,  on 

c  21.         September    11th,    when    they    were    released.      Others    Avere 

marched     to    Louvain,    and    eventually    merged    with    other 

prisoners,    both    from    Louvain    itself    and    tlie    surrounding 

districts,  and  taken  to  Germany  and  elsewhere. 

It  is  said  by  one  witness  tliat  about  1,500  were  marched  to 
Louvain,  and  that  the  journey  took  six  hours. 
c  25.  The  journey  to  Louvain  is  thus  described  by  a  witness  :  We 

were  all  marched  off  to  Louvain,  walking.  There  were  some 
very  old  people,  amongst  others  a  man  90  years  of  age.  The 
very  old  people  were  drawn  in  carts  and  barrows  1  )y  the  younger 
men.  There  was  an  officer  with  a  bicycle,  who  shouted,  as 
people  fell  out  by  the  side  of  the  road,  "  Shoot  them." 


Aerschot  and  District. 

Period  III.     (September.) 

It  is  unnecessary  to  describe  with  much  particularity  the 

c  29,  c  30.    events  of  the  period  beginning  about  Septembe]-    10th.     The  i 

c  32,  c  36.     Belgian  soldiers  who  had  recaptured  the  f)lace  found  corj)ses  of  ^ 

c  31.        civilians,  who  must  have  been  murdered  in  Aerschot  itself,  just 

as   they   found    them   in  Sempst   and   the   other  villages    on 

August  25th.     Some  of  these  bodies  were  found  in  wells,  and 

some  had  been  burnt  alive  in  their  houses. 

c  32,  c  34.  The  prisoners  released  by  the  Belgian  army  from  the  church 

d  107.       were  almost  starved. 

At  Haecht  several  children  had  been  murdered,  one  of  twoi 
or  three  years  old  was  found  nailed  to  the  door  of  a  farmhouse  | 
by  its  hands  and  feet,  a  crime  which  seems  almost  incrediljle, 
but  the  evidence  for  which  we  feel  bound  to  accept.  In  the, 
garden  of  this  house  was  the  body  of  a  girl,  who  had  been  shotj 
in  the  forehead. 

1  U.!i-121.  Capelle-au-Bois. — At   CapeUe-au-Bois    two    children   AvereJ 

murdered   in   a   cart,  and   their   corpses   were  seen   by  manj 
witnesses  at  different  stages  of  the  cart's  journey. 

d69.  Eppeghem. — At  Eppeghem  the  dead  body  of  a  child  of  two| 

was  seen  pinned  to  the  ground  with  a  German  lance.     Same 


29 

witness  saw  a  mutilated  woman  alive  near  Weerde  on  the  same 
day. 

Tremeloo, — Belgian  soldiers  on  patrol  duty  found  a  yc-ang  c  57. 
girl  naked  on  the  ground,  covered  with  scratches.  She  com- 
plained of  having  been  violated.  On  the  same  day  an  old 
woman  was  seen  kneeling  by  the  body  of  her  husband,  and  she 
told  them  that  the  Germans  had  shot  him  as  he  was  trying  to 
escape  from  the  house. 


LOUVAIN   AND   DISTRICT. 


The  events  spoken  to  as  having  occurred  in  and  around 
Louvain  between  the  I9th  and  the  25th  of  August  deserve 
close  attention. 

For  six  days  the  Germans  were  in  peaceful  occupation  of  e  i. 

the  city.  No  houses  were  set  on  fire — no  citizens  killed.  There 
was  a  certain  amount  of  looting  of  emjity  houses,  but  otherwise 
discipline  was  effectively  maintained.  The  condition  of  Louvain 
during  these  days  was  one  of  relative  peace  and  quietude, 
presenting  a  striking  contrast  to  the  previous  and  contempo- 
raneous conduct  of  the  German  army  elsewhere. 

On  the  evening  of  xlugust  25th  a  sudden  change  takes 
place.  The  Germans,  on  that  day  repulsed  by  the  Belgians, 
had  retreated  to  and  re-occupied  Louvain.  Immediately  the 
devastation  of  that  city  and  the  holocaust  of  its  population 
commences.  The  inference  is  irresistible  that  the  army  as  a 
whole  wreaked  its  vengeance  on  the  civil  population  and  the 
buildings  of  the  city  in  revenge  for  the  setback  which  the 
Belgian  arms  had  inflicted  on  them.  A  subsidiary  cause 
alleged  was  the  assertion,  often  made  before,  that  civilians  had 
fired  upon  the  German  army. 

The  depositions  which  relate  to  Louvain  are  numerous,  and         e  1, 
are   believed  by  the  Committee  to  present  a  true  and   fairly 
complete  picture  of  the  events  of  the  25th  and  26th  August 
and  subsequent  days.     We  find  no  grounds  for  thinking  that  ^  ^• 

the  inhabitants  fired  upon  the  German  army  on  the  evening 
of  the  2oth  August.  Eye-witnesses  worthy  of  credence  detail 
exactly  when,  where,  and  how  the  firing  commenced.  Such 
firing  was  by  Germans  on  Germans.  No  impartial  tribunal 
could,  in  our  opinion,  come  to  any  other  conclusion. 

On  the  evening  of  the  25th  firing  could  be  heard  in  the  ©  1- 

direction  of  Herent,  some  three  kilometres  from  Louvain.  An 
alarm  was  sounded  in  the  city.  There  was  disorder  and  con- 
fusion, and  at  8  o'clock  horses  attached  to  baggage  wagons 
stampeded  in  the  street  and  rifle  fire  commenced.  This  was  in 
the  Rue  de  la  Station  and  came  from  the  German  police  guard 
(21  in  number),  who,  seeing  the  troops  arrive  in  disorder,  thought 
it  was  the  enemy.  Then  the  corps  of  incendiaries  got  to  work. 
They  had  broad  belts  with  the  words  "  Gottmlt  uns  "  and  their 


30 

oquipnieut  consisted  of  a  hatchet,  a  yyriiigo,  a  small  shovel,  and 
a  revolver.     Fires  hlazcd  up  in  the  direction  of  the  Law  Courts, 
St.  Martin's  Barracks,  and    later   in   the  Place  de  la  Station. 
Meanwhile  an  inc(^ssant  fusillade  Avas  kept  up  on  the  windows 
of  the  houses.     In  their  efforts  to  escape  the  flames  the  inhabi- 
tants climbed  the  walls.     "My  mother  and  servants,"  says  a 
witness,  "  had  to  do  the  same  and  took  refuge  at  Monsieur  A., 
whose  cellars   are  vaulted  and  afforded  a  better   protection 
than  mine.    A  little  later  we  withdrew  to  Monsieur  A.'s  stables, 
where  about  30  people  who  had  got  there  by  climbing  the 
walls,  Avere  to  be  found.     Some  of  these  poor  wretches  had 
to  climb  twenty  walls.     A  ring  came  at  the  bell.     We  opened 
the   door.       Several   civilians  Hung    themselves    under    the 
porch.     The  CJermans  Avere  firing  upon  them  from  the  street. 
Everj^  moment  new  fires  Avcrc  lighting  up,  accompanied  by 
explosions.     In  the  middle  of  the  night  1  heard  a  knock  at 
the  outer  door  of  the  stable  Avliich  led  into  a  little  street,  and 
heard  a  Avoman's  voice  crying  for  help.     I  opened  the  door, 
and  just  as  I  Avas  going  to  let  her  in,  a  rifle  shot  fired  fi-om  the 
street  by  a  CJerman  soldier  rang  out  and  the  Avoman  fell  dead 
at  my  feet.     About  0  in  the  morning  things  got  quieter,  and 
Ave   took  the  opportunity  of  venturing   into   the   street,     A 
(lernian  who  was  carrying  a  silver  pyx  and  a  number  of  boxes 
of  cigara,  told  us  we  were  to  go  to  the  stati(m  Avhere  trains 
Avould  be  Avaiting  for  us.     AVlien  we  got  to  the  Place  de  la 
Station  Ave  saw  in  the  Square  7  or  8  dead  bodies  of  murdered 
civilians.     Not  a  single  house  in  the  place  Avas  standing.     A 
"  Avhole  row  of  houses   behind  the   station   at  BlauAvput  was 
"  burnt.     After  being  driven  hither  and  thither  interminably 
by  officers,  who  treated  us  roughly  and  insulted  us  throughout, 
"  Ave   Avere    divided."      The  prisoners    Avere    then    distributed 
betAveen  different  bodies  of  troops  and  marched  in  the  direction 
of  Herent.     Seventy-seven  inhabitants  of  Louvain,  including  a 
number  of  people  of  good  position  (the  names  of  several  are 
given)  Avere  thus  taken  to  Herent.     "  We  found  the  village  of 
Herent  in  flames,  so  much  so  that  Ave  had  to  quicken  up  to 
"  prevent  ourselves  from  being  suffocated  and  burnt  up  by  the 
"  flames  in  the  middle  of  the  road.     Half   Invrnt    corpses  of 
"  civilians  Avere  lying  in  front  of  the  houses.     During  a  halt 
"  soldiers  stole  cattle  and  slaughtered  them  Avhere  the}^  stood. 
"  Firing  started  on  our  left.     We  were  told  it  was  the  civilians 
"  firing,  and  that  we  Avere  going  to  be  shot.      The  truth  is  that 
it  Avas  the  Germans  themselves  Avho  were  firing  to  frighten 
"  us.     There  was  not  a  single  civilian  in  the  neighbourhood. 
"  Shortly  afterAvards  Ave  proceeded  on  our  march,  to  Malines. 
"  We    AA'ere   insulted    and    threatened.    .    .     .      The    officers 
"  were  Avorse   than   the  men.     We  got  to  Campenhout  about 
"  7    p.m.,    and    were   locked   into  the    church    with    all    the 
"  male   population   of  the  village.     Some   priests   had  joined 
"  our  numbers.     We  had  had  nothing  to  eat  or  drink    since 


31 

"  the  evening  of  the  day  before.  A  few  compassionate 
"  soldiers  gave  us  water  to  drink,  but  no  otUcial  took  the  trouble 
"  to  see  that  we  were  fed."  Next  day,  Thursday,  the  27th,  a  safe- 
conduct  to  return  to  Louvain  was  given,  Ijut  the  prisoners  had 
iiardly  started  when  they  were  stopped  and  taken  before  a  Brigade 
General  and  handed  to  another  escort.  Some  were  grossly 
ill-treated.  They  were  accused  of  being  soldiers  out  of  uniform, 
and  -were  told  they  could  not  go  to  Louvain  "as  the  town  was 
going  to  be  razed  to  the  ground."  Other  prisoners  were  added, 
even  women  and  children,  until  there  were  more  than  200. 
They  were  then  taken  towards  ]\lalines,  released,  and  told  to  go  to 
that  town  together,  and  that  those  who  separated  would  be  fired 
on.  Other  Avitnesses  corroborate  the  events  described  bj-  the 
witness. 

A  woman  employed  as  servant  l\y  an  old   gentleman  living 
in  the  Uue  de  la  vStation  tells  the  story  of  her  master's  death.         e  14. 
"  We  had  supper  as  usual  about  8,   but  two  German  officers 

(who  were  staying  in  the  house)  did  not  come  in  to  supper  that 
"  evening.  My  master  went  to  bed  at  8.15,  and  so  did  his  son. 
"  The  servants  went  to  bed  at  half-past  9.     Soon  after  1  got  to 

my  bedroom  I  saw  out  of  my  room  flames  from  some  burning 
"  house  near  by.  I  roused  my  master  and  his  son.  As  they 
"  came  down  tlie  stairs  they  were  seized  by  German  soldiers 
"  and  both  were  tied  up  and  led  out,  my  master  being  tied 

with  a  rope  and  his  son  with  a  chain.  Tliey  Avere  dragged 
"  outside.     I  did  not  actually  see  what  happened  outside,  but 

heard  subsequentl}'  that  my  master  was  bayonetted  and  shot, 
"  and  that  his  son  was  shot.  I  heard  shots  from  the  kitchen 
"  where  1  was,  and  was  present  at  the  burial  of  my  master  and 
"  his  son  13  days  later.  German  soldiers  came  back  into  the 
"  house  and  poured  some  inflammable  liquid  over  the  floors  and 
"  set  fire  to  it.  I  escaped  by  another  staircase  to  that  which  my 
"  master  and  his  son  had  descended." 

On  the  26th  (Wednesday),  in  the  city  of  Louvain,  massacre, 
lire,  and  destruction  went  on.     The  Universitj',  with  itsLibrar3%         e  18. 
llie  churcli  of  St.  Peter,  and  many  houses  Avcre  set  on  fire  and 
liurnt  to    the    ground.     Citizens   were   shot  and   others    taken 
]>risoners  and  compelled  to  go  Avith  the  troops.     Soldiers  \A-ent  e  2. 

tlirough  the  streets  saying  "  Man  hat  geschossen."'''  One  soldier 
was  seen  going  along  shooting  in  the  air. 

Many  of  the  people  hid  in  cellars,  but  the  soldiers  shot  down  e  2. 

through  the  gratings.     Some  citizens  Avere  shot  on  opening  the         e  13. 
doors,  others  in  endeavouring  to  escape.     Among  other  persons 
^vllose    houses   Avere   burnt   Avas    an   old  man    of  ninety  lying 
dangerously  ill,  Avho  Avas  taken  out  on  his  mattress  and  left  lying  e  2. 

in  his  garden  all  night.  He  died  shortly  after  in  the  hospital  to 
wluch  a  fi'iend  took  him  the  following  morning. 

On  Thursday,  the  27th,  orders  Avere  given  that  CA^eryone         e  18 
should  leave  the  city  AAdiich  Avas  to  be  razed  to  the  gi'ound. 

*  "  They  have  been  shooting." 

('    28300  0 


:y2 

e  -  Soiiio  citizens,  iucludiiig  a  canon  oi  the  Catiicdral  witk  liis  aged 

mother,  were  ordered  to'go  to  tlie  station  and  afterwards  to  take  tlit; 
road  to  Tirleniont.  Anu)ng  the  number  Avere  about  20  piiests 
from  liOuvain.  They  were  insulted  and  threatened,  but  ultimately 
ullowed  to  go  free  and  make  their  w^ay  as  best  they  could, 
Avomen  and  sick  persons  among  them,  to  Tirlemont.  Other 
groups  of  i)risoners  fi'om  Louvain  were  on  the  same  day  taken 
by  other  routes,  souu^  early  in  the  morning  through  various 
villages  in  the  direction  of  Malines  Avitli  hands  tightly  bound 
by  a  long  cord.  More  prisoners  were  afterwards  added,  and  all 
made  to  stay  the  iiiglit  in  the  church  at   Campenhout.     Next 

c  21.  (hiy,  the  28th,  this  grou]),  then  consisting  of  about  1,000  men, 
women  and  ehildren,  was  taken  back  to  Louvain.  TJie  houses 
along  the  road  were  burning  and  many  dead  bodies  of  civilians, 
men  and  women,  were  seen  on  the  way.  Some  of  the  princixjal 
streets  in  Louvain  had  by  that  time  been  burnt  out.  The  prisoners 
were  placed  in  a  large  building  on  the  cavalry  exercise  ground — 
"  One  woman  went  mad,  some  children  died,  others  were  boru.' 
On  the  29th  the  prisoners  were  marched  along  the  Malines  road, 
and  at  Herent  the  Avomen  and  children  and  men  over  40  were 
allowed  to  go,  the  others  were  taken  to  Boort  Meerbeek,  15 
kilometres  J'rom  Malines,  and  told  to  march  straight  to  Malines 
or  be  shot.  At  11  p.m.  they  reached  the  fort  of  Waelhem  and 
w'ere  at  first  lired  on  by  the  sentries,  but  on  calling  out  they 
were  Belgians  were  alloAved  to  pass.  These  prisoners  Avere 
practically  A\'ithout  food  from  early  morning  on  the  26th  until 
midnight  on  the  29tli.  Of  the  corpses  seen  on  the  road  some 
had  their  hands  tied  behind  their  backs,  others  Avere  burnt, 
some  had  been  killed  by  bloAvs,  and  some  corpses  Avere  those  of 
children  Avho  had  been  shot. 

c  3.  Another  Avitness,  a  man  of  independent  means,  Avas  arrested 

at  noon  by  the  soldiers  of  the  165th  Regiment  and  taken  to  the 
Place  de  la  Station.  He  was  grossly  ill-treated  on  the  Avay  and 
robbed  by  an  officer  of  his  purse  and  keys.  His  hands  were  tied 
behind  his  back.  His  AAdfe  was  kept  a  prisoner  at  the  other 
side  of  the  station.  He  \A^as  then  made  to  march  Avith  about  500 
other  prisoners  until  midnight,  slept  in  the  rain  that  night,  and 
next  day,  having  had  no  food  since  leaving  Louvain,  Avas 
taken  to  the  church  in  Rotselaer  Avhere  there  Avere  then  about 
1,500  prisoners  confined,  including  some  infants.  No  food 
Avas  given,  only  some  water.  Next  day  they  were  taken  through 
Wespelaer  and  back  to  Louvain.  On  the  way  from  Rotselaer 
to  Wespelaer  50  bodies  Avere  seen,  some  naked  and  carbonised 
and  unrecognisable.  When  they  arrived  at  liouvain  the  Fish 
]\larket,  the  Place  Marguerite,  the  Cathedral  and  many  other 
buildings  Avere  on  fire.  In  the  eA'ening  about  100  men,  Avomen 
and  chihh'en  Avere  put  in  horse  trucks  from  which  the  dung 
had  not  been  removed,  and  at  6  next  morning  left  for  Cologne. 

e  4  The  wife  of  this  Avitiiess  Avas  also  taken  prisoner  Avith  her 

husband  and  her  maid,  but  Avas  separated  from  him,  and  she 
saAV  other  ladies  made  to  Avalk  before  the  soldiers  Avith  their 


I 


33 

hands  above  their  heads.  One,  an  okl  hidy  of  eighty-tive — 
(name  given) — was  dragged  from  her  celhir  and  taken  Avith 
them  to  the  otation.  'J'h(>3'  -were  kept  there  all  night,  but  set 
free  in  the  morning,  Thursday,  but  shortly  afterwards  sent  to 
Tirlemont  on  foot.  A  number  of  corpses  were  seen  on  the 
way.  The  prisoners,  of  whom  there  are  said  to  have  been 
thousands,  were  not  allowed  even  to  have  water  to  drink, 
although  there  Avere  streams  on  the  way  from  which  the  soldiers 
drank.  Witness  was  given  some  milk  at  a  farm,  but  as  she 
i-aised  it  to  her  lips  it  was  taken  away  from  her. 

A  priest  was  taken  on  the  Friday  morning,  August  28th,  and  e  18. 
placed  at  the  head  of  a  niunber  of  refugees  from  Wygmael.  He 
was  led  through  Lou  vain,  abused  and  ill-treated,  and  placed  with 
some  thousands  of  other  people  in  the  riding  school  in  the  Rue 
du  Manege.  The  glass  roof  broke  in  the  night  from  the  heat 
of  burning  buildings  round.  Next  day  the  prisoners  Averc 
marched  through  the  country  w'itli  [in  armed  guard.  Burnt 
farms  and  burnt  corpses  were  seen  on  the  way.  The  prisoners 
were  finally  separated  into  three  groups,  and  the  younger  men 
marched  through  Herent  and  Bueken  to  Campenhout,  and 
ultimately  reached  the  Belgian  lines  about  midnight  on 
Saturday,  August  20th.  All  the  houses  in  Herent,  a  village  of 
about  5,000  inhabitants,  had  been  burnt. 

The  massacre  of  civilians  at  Louvain  was  not  confined  to 
its  citizens.  Large  crowds  of  people  were  brought  into  Louvain 
from  the  surrounding  districts,  not  only  from  Aerschot  and 
Gelrode  as  above  mentioned,  but  also  from  other  places.  For 
example,  a  witness  describes  how  many  women  and  children 
were  taken  in  carts  to  Louvain,  and  there  placed  in  a  stable. 
Of  the  hundreds  of  people  thus  taken  from  the  various  villages  e  1. 

and  brought  to  Louvain  as  prisoners,  some  were  massacred 
there,  others  were  forced  to  march  along  with  citizens  of  Louvain 
through  various  places,  some  being  ultimately  sent  on  the  29th 
to  the  Belgian  lines  at  Malines,  others  were  taken  in  trucks  to 
Cologne  as  described  below,  others  were  released.  An  account 
of  the  massacre  of  some  of  these  unfortunate  civilian  prisoners 
given  by  two  witnesses  may  be  quoted. 

"  We  were  all  placed  in  Station  St.,  Louvain,  and  the  German  c  45. 
"  soldiers  fired  upon  us.  I  saw  the  corpses  of  some  women  in 
"  the  street.  I  fell  down,  and  a  woman  Avho  had  been  shot 
'■  fell  on  top  of  me.  I  did  not  dare  to  look  at  the  dead  bodies 
"  in  the  street,  there  were  so  many  of  them.  All  of  them  had 
'■  been  shot  by  the  German  soldiers.     One  woman  Avhom  I  saw 

lying  dead  in  the  street  Avas  a  Miss  J,  .  .  . — about  35.     I  also 
■  saAv  the  body  of  A  .  .  M  .  .  (a  woman).     She  had  been  shot. 

[  saAV  an  officer  pull  her  corpse  underneath  a  Avagon." 
Another  Avitness,  AA'"ho  Avas  taken  from  Aerschot,  also  describes 
the  occurrence  :   "  I  Avas  aftei'wards  taken  with  a  large  number 

of  other  civilians  and  placed  in  the  church  at  Louvain.     Then 

Ave  were  taken  to  Station  St.,  Louvain.    There  were  about  1,500 

C  2 


34 

"  civilians    of    hotii   sexes,    aiul    we    luul    heeii  nuuclied    i'roni 

"  Aerschot  1o   Louvaiii.     When   we   weic    in   Station  St.  I   Tell 

"  that  something  was  about  to  liappen,  and  1  tried  to  shelter  in 

"  a  dot>rway.     The  (ierman  soldiers  then   lired  a  initraillense 

"  and  their  rilles   upon   the   jieople,  and   the  people  fell  on  all 

"  sides.     Two  men  next    to  me  were  killed.     I  afterwards  saw 

c  15.         "  soineone  give   a   signal,   and   the  tiring  eeased.     I  then  ran 

"  away  with  a  married  woman  named  B  .  .  .  .  (whose  maiden 

"  name    was    A   .  .  .  .  M  .  .  .  .),   aged    21),  who  belonged   to 

"  Aersehot,  but  we  were  again  eaptured.     Slie  Avas  shot  by  the 

"  side  oL'  me,  and  1  saw  her  fall.     Several  other  i')eoplo  were 

"  shot  at  the  same  time.     I  again  ran  away,  and  in  my  flight 

"  saw  children  falling  out  of  their  mothers'  arms.     I  cannot  say 

"  Avliether   they   were    shot,  or   whether   they  fell   from  their 

"  jnothers'  arms  in  tlie  great  panic  which  ensued.     I,  however, 

"  saw  children  bleeding." 


JoFRNKY  TO  Cologne. 

(• :{.  o  .'),  c  7.  The  greatest  number  of  prisoners  from  Lou  vain,  however, 
r  JO.  ell,  were  assembled  at  the  station  and  taken  by  trains  to  Cologne, 
e  l(i,  e  17.  Several  witnesses  describe  their  sufferings  and  the  ill-treatment 
they  received  on  the  journey.  One  of  the  first  trains  started  in 
the  afternoon.  It  consisted  of  cattle  trucks,  about  100  being  in 
each  truck.  It  took  three  days  to  get  to  Cologne.  The  prisoners 
had  nothing  to  eat  but  a  few  biscuits  each,  and  they  Avere  not 
allowed  to  get  out  for  Avater  and  none  Avas  given.  On  a  waggon 
the  Avords  "  CiA'ilians  AA'ho  shot  at  the  soldiers  at  Louvain  "  were 
Avritten.  Some  Avere  marciied  through  Cologne  afterAvards  for 
the  people  to  see.  Ropes  Avere  put  round  the  necks  of  some 
and  they  were  told  they  Avould  be  hanged.  An  order  then 
came  that  they  Avere  to  be  shot  instead  of  hanged.  A  firing 
squad  Avas  prepared,  and  five  or  six  prisoners  AA'ere  put  up,  but 
were  not  shot.  After  being  kept  a  Aveek  at  Cologne  some  of  these 
prisoners  Avere  taken  back — this  time  only  30  or  40  in  a  truck — 
and  allowed  to  go  free  on  arriving  at  Limburg.  Several 
witnesses  avIio  Avere  taken  in  other  trains  to  Cologne  describe 
their  experiences  in  detail.  Some  of  the  trucks  Avere  abominably 
filthy.  Prisoners  Avere  not  alloAved  to  leave  to  obe}''  the  calls  of 
]iature  ;  one  man  Avho  quitted  the  truck  for  the  purpose  Avas 
killed  by  a  bayonet.  Describing  Avhat  happened  to  anothei* 
body  of  prisoners,  a  Avitness  says  that  they  Avere  made  to  cross] 
Station  Street,  Avhere  the  houses  were  burning,  and  taken  to  the! 
station,  placed  in  horse  trucks  croAvded  together,  men,  women, I 
and  childi-en,  in  each  Avaggon.  They  Avere  kept  at  the  station' 
during  the  night  and  the  folloAving  day  left  for  Cologne.  For 
two  days  and  a  half  they  Avere  Avithout  food,  and  then  they] 
received  a  loaf  of  bread  among  ten  pei'sons,  and  some  Avater. 
The  prisoners  Avere  afterAvards  taken  back  to  Belgium.  They^ 
AA-ere,  in  all,  eight  days  in  the  train,  crowded  and  almost  Avithout 


food.  Two  of  the  men  went  mad.  The  women  and  chiklren 
were  separated  from  the  men  at  Brussels.  The  men  were  taken 
to  a  suburb  and  then  to  the  villages  of  Ilerent,  Vilvorde  and 
Seinpst,  and  afterwards  set  at  liberty. 

This  taking  of  the  inhabitants,  including  some  of  the 
influential  citizens,  in  groups  and  marching  them  to  various 
places,  and  in  particular  the  sending  them  to  Malines  and  the 
despatch  of  great  numbers  to  Cologne,  must  evidently  have 
been  done  under  the  direction  of  the  higher  military  authorities. 
The  ill-treatment  of  the  prisoners  was  under  the  eyes  and  often 
by  the  direction  or  with  the  sanction  of  officers,  and  officers 
themselves  took  part  in  it. 

The  object  of  taking  many  hundreds  of  prisoners  to  Cologne 
and  back  into  Belgium  is  at  first  sight  difficult  to  understand. 
Possibly  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  part  of  the  policy  of  punish- 
ment for  Belgian  resistance  and  general  terrorization  of  the 
inhaliitants — possibly  as  a  desire  to  show  these  people  to  the 
population  of  a  German  city  and  thus  to  confirm  the  belief  that 
the  Belgians  had  shot  at  their  troops. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  case  when  the  burning  began 
on  the  evening  of  the  !^5th,  it  appears  clear  that  the  subsequent 
destruction  and  outrages  were  done  with  a  set  purpose.  It 
was  not  until  the  26tli  that  the  Library,  and  other  University 
buildings,  the  church  of  St.  Peter  and  manj^  houses  were  set 
on  fire.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  cases  occur  in  the  depositions 
in  which  humane  acts  by  individual  officers  and  soldiers  are 
mentioned,  or  in  wliich  officers  are  said  to  have  expressed  regret 
at  being  obliged  to  carry  out  orders  for  cruel  action  against  the 
civilians.  Similarly,  we  find  enti-ies  in  diaries  which  reveal  a 
genuine  pity  for  the  population  and  disgust  at  the  conduct  of 
the  army.  It  appears  that  a  German  non-commissioned  officer 
stated  definitely  that  he  "  was  acting  under  orders  and  executing 
them  with  great  unwillingness."      A  commissioned  officer  on  ^  g_ 

being  asked  at  Louvain  by  a  witness — a  highly  educated  man 
— about  the  horrible  acts  committed  by  the  soldiers,  said  lie 
"  was  merely  executing  orders,"  and  that  he  himself  would  be 
shot  if  he  did  not  execute  them.  Others  gave  less  credible 
excuses,  one  stating  that  the  inhabitants  of  Louvain  had  burnt 
the  city  themselves  because  they  did  not  wisli  to  supply  food 
and  quarters  for  tlie  German  army.  It  was  to  the  discipline 
rather  than  the  want  of  discipline  in  the  army  that  these 
outrages,  Avliich  we  are  obliged  to  describe  as  systematic,  Avere 
due,  and  tVie  special  official  notices  posted  on  certain  houses 
that  they  were  not  to  be  destroyed  show  the  fate  which*  had 
been  decreed  for  the  others  which  were  not  so  marked. 

We  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  the  harrying  of  the 
villages  in  the  district,  the  burning  of  a  large  part  of  Louvain, 
the  massacres  there,  the  marching  out  of  the  prisoners,  and  the 
transpoit  to  Cologne  (all  done  without  enquiry  as  to  whether 
the   particular   persons    seized    or   kilbnl    had    committed    anv 


no 

wrongful  act),  were  due  to  a  calculated  policy  carried  out 
scientilicall}'  and  deliberately,  not  merely  with  the  sanction, 
but  under  the  direction  of  higher  military  authorities,  and  were 
not  due  to  any  provocation  or  resistance  by  the  civilian 
population. 


TERMONDE. 

To  understand  the  depositions  describing  what  happened  at 
Termonde  it  is  necessary  to  remember  that  the  German  army 
occupied  the  toAvn  on  two  occasions,  the  first,  from  Friday, 
September  the  4th,  to  Sunday,  September  the  Gth,  and  again 

f  5.         later  in  the  month,  about  the  16th.     The  civilians  had  delivered 
up  tlieir  arms  a  fortnight  befoi-e  the  arrival  of  the  Germans. 

Early  in  tlie  month,  probably  about  the  4th,  a  witness  saw 

two  civilians  murdered  by  Uhlans.     Another  witness  saw  their 

f4,  fo.       dead  bodies  which  remained  in  the  street  for  ten  days.     Two 

hundred    civilians  were   utilised  as  a  screen  by  the  German 

troops  about  this  date. 

f  1.  On  the  5th  the  town  was  ivartially  Imrnt.     One  witness  was 

f  'A.  taken  piisoner  in  the  street  l)y  some  German  soldiers  togethei- 
with  several  other  civilians.  At  about  12  o'clock  some  of  the 
tallest  and  strongest  men  amongst  the  prisoners  were  picked  out 
to  go  round  the  streets  Avith  paraffin.  Three  or  foui*  carts 
containing  parafhn  tanks  were  brought  up,  and  a  syringe  was 
used  to  put  parafhn  on  to  the  houses  which  Avere  then  fired. 
The  process  of  destruction  began  with  the  houses  of  rich  people, 
and  afterwards  the  houses  of  the  j»oorer  classes  were  treated  in  the 
same  manner.  German  soldiers  had  previously  told  this  witness 
that  if  tlie  13urgomaster  of  Termonde,  who  was  out  of  town,  did 
not  return  by  12  o'clock  that  day  the  town  would  be  set  on  fire. 
The  firing  of  the  town  was  in  consequence  of  his  failure  to 
return.  The  prisoners  were  afterwards  taken  to  a  factory  and 
searched  for  weapons.  They  were  subsequently  provided  with 
passports  enabling  them  to  go  anywhere  in  the  town  but  not 
outside.  The  witness  in  question  managed  to  effect  his  escape  ■ 
by  swimming  across  the  river. 

f  2.  Another  witness   describes  how  the  tower  of  the  church  of 

Termonde  St.  (Hlles  was  utilised  by  the  Belgian  troops  for 
offensive  purposes.  They  had  in  fact  mounted  a  machine  gun 
there.  Tliis  witness  was  subsequently  taken  prisoner  in  a  cellar 
in  Termonde  in  which  he  had  taken  refuge  with  other  people. 
All  tlTe  men  were  taken  from  the  cellar  and  the  women  were 
left  behind.  About  70  prisoners  in  all  were  taken ;  one,  a 
brewer,  who  could  not  walk  fast  enough,  was  wounded  with  a 
bayonet.  He  fell  down  and  was  compelled  to  get  up  and  follow 
the  soldiers.  The  prisoners  had  to  hold  up  their  liands,  and  if 
they  dropped  their  hands  they  Avere  struck  on  the  back  with 
the  butt  ends  of  rifles.     They  were  taken  to  Lebbeke,  where 


there  Avere  in  all  300  prisoners,  and  tliere  they  were  locked  up 
in  the  chnrcli  for  three  days  and  with  scarcely  any  food. 

A  witness  living  at  15aesrode  was  taken  prisoner  with  250  ^  *^- 

others  and  kept  all  night  in  a  field.  TJie  prisoners  were 
released  on  the  following  morning.  Tliis  witness  saw  three 
corpses  of  civilians,  and  says  that  the  Germans  on  Sunday,  the 
6th,  jDlundered  and  destroyed  the  houses  of  those  who  had  fled. 
The  Germans  left  on  the  following  day,  taking  about  30  men  f  s.  f  9, 
with  them,  one  a  man  of  seventy-two  years  of  age.  f  ]0,  f  11. 

Later  in  the  month  civilians  were  again  used  as  a  screen, 
and  there  is  evidence  of  other  acts  of  outrage. 


ALOST. 

Alost  was  the  scene  of  fighting  between  the  Belgian  and 
German  armies  during  the  whole  of  the  latter  part  of  the  month 
ol:  September.  In  connection  with  the  fighting  numerous 
cruelties  appear  to  have  been  perpetrated  by  the  German 
troops. 

On  Saturday,  the  11th  September,  a  weaver  was  bayonetted  f  12 
in  the  street.  Another  civilian  was  shot  dead  at  his  door  on  the 
same  night.  On  the  following  day  the  witness  was  taken 
prisoner  together  Avitli  30  others.  The  inone}^  of  the  prisoners 
Avas  confiscated,  and  they  were  subsequently  used  as  a  screen 
for  the  Crerman  troops  who  Avere  at  that  moment  engaged  in  a 
conflict  with  tlie  Belgian  army  in  the  toAvn  itself.  The  Germans 
burnt  a  number  of  houses  at  this  time.  Corpses  of  14  civilians 
Avere  seen  in  the  streets  on  this  occasion. 

A  AA^ell-educated  Avitness,  Avho  visited  the  Wetteren  Hospital  f  13. 
shortly  after  this  date.  saAV  the  dead  bodies  of  a  nunilier  of 
civilians  belonging  to  Alost,  and  other  civilians  wounded.  One 
of  these  stated  that  he  took  refuge  in  the  house  of  his  sister-in- 
laAv  ;  that  the  Germans  dragged  the  people  out  of  the  house 
Avhich  AA'as  on  fire,  seized  him,  thrcAvhimon  the  ground,  and  hit 
him  on  the  head  Avith  the  butt  end  of  a  rifle,  and  ran  him 
through  the  thigh  Avitli  a  bayonet.  They  then  placed  him  Avith 
17  or  18  others  in  front  of  the  German  troops,  threatening  them 
Avith  I'evolvers.  They  said  that  they  Avere  going  to  make  the 
people  of  Alost  pay  for  the  losses  sustained  by  the  Germans. 
At  this  hospital  Avas  an  old  Avoman  of  80  completely  transfixed 
by  a  bayonet. 

Other  crimes  on  non-combatants  at  Alost  belong  to    the  end 
of   the  month   of    September.     Many   Avitnesses   speak    to    the   f  l''>  to  f 
murder  of  harmless  civilians. 

In  Binnenstraat  the  Germans  broke  open  the  AvindoAvs  of 
the  houses  and  thrcAv  fluid  inside,  and  the  houses  l)urst  into 
flames.     Some  of  the  inhabitants  Avere  burnt  to  death. 

The  civilians  AA^ere  utilised  on  Saturday,  the  26th  September,         f.  l.""). 
as  a  screen.     During  their  retreat  the  Gei-mans  fired  12  houses  in 


38 


£20 


£27. 


Ihie  dos  Truls  Clefs,  and  tliree  civilians,  whose  names  are  given, 
were  shot  dead  in  tliat  street  after  the  firing  of  the  houses.  On 
the  following  day  a  heap  of  nine  dead  civilians  were  lying  in 
tlie  Uue  dc  I'Argcnt. 

Similar  outrages  occurred  at  Erpe,  a  village  a  few  miles 
from  Alost,  about  the  same  date.  The  village  was  deliberately 
burnt.  The  houses  were  plundered  and  some  civilians  w^ere 
murdered. 

Civilians  were  apparently  used  as  a  screen  at  Erpe,  but 
tliey  were  prisoners  taken  from  Alost  and  not  dwellers  in  that 
village. 

TJiis  disregard  for  the  lives  of  civilians  is  strikingly  shown 
in  extracts  from  Cerman  soldiers'  diaries,  of  whicli  the  folloAving 
are  representative  examples. 

Barthel,  who  was  a  sergeant  and  standard  bearer  of  tlie 
L*nd  Company  of  the  1st  Cuards  Regiment  on  Foot,  and  Avho 
during  the  campaign  received  the  Iron  Cross,  says,  under 
date  iOth  August,  1914  :  "  A  transport  of  oOO  Belgians  came 
"  tlirough  Duisburg  in  the  morning.  Of  these,  80  including 
"  the  Oberburgomaster  Avere  shot  according  to  martial  law\" 

Matbern,  of  the  4th  Company  of  Jiigers,  No.  11,  fi-om 
^larburg,  states  that  at  a  village  between  Birnal  and  Dinant 
on  vSunday,  August  23rd,  the  Pioneers  and  Infantry  Regiment  178 
w'ere  fired  upon  by  the  inhabitants.  He  gives  no  particulars 
])eyond  this.  He  continues  :  "  About  220  inhabitants  were 
"  shot,  and  the  village  was  burnt.  Artillerj^  is  continuously 
"  shooting — the  village  lies  in  a  large  ravine.  Just  now, 
"  6  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  crossing  of  the  Meuse  begins 
"  near  Dinant.  All  villages,  chateaux  and  houses  are  burnt 
"  down  during  the  night.  It  is  a  beautiful  sight  to  see  the 
"  fires  all  round  us  in  the  distance." 

Bombardier  Wetzel,  of  the  2nd  Moimted  Battery,  1st  Kur- 
hessian  Field  Artillery  Regiment,  No.  11,  records  an  incident 
which  happened  in  Frencli  territory  near  Lille  on  the  11th 
October :  "  We  had  no  fight,  but  we  caught  about  20  men 
and  shot  them."  By  this  time  killing  not  in  a  fight  would 
sVem  to  have  passed  into  a  habit. 

Diary  No.  32  gives  an  accurate  picture  of  what  took  place 
in  Lou  vain  :  "  What  a  sad  scene — all  the  houses  surrounding 
"  the  railway  station  completely  destroyed — only  some  foun- 
"  dation  walls  still  standing.  On  the  station  square  captured 
"  guns.  At  the  end  of  a  main  street  there  is  the  Council  Hall 
''  which  has  been  completely  preserved  witli  all  its  beautiful 
"  turrets  ;  a  sharp  contrast :  180  inhabitants  are  stated  to  have 
"  been  shot  after  they  had  dug  their  own  graves." 

The  last  and  most  important  entry  is  that  contained  in 
Diary  No.  19.  This  is  a  blue  book  interleaved  with  blotting 
]>aper,  and  contains  no  name  and  address;  there  is,  how^ever, 
one  circimistance  which  makes  it  possible  to  speak  with  cer- 
tainty as  to  the  regiment  of  the  writer.     He  gives  the  names 


39 

of  First  Lieutenant  von  Oppen,  Connt  Eulenburg,  Captain  von 
Koeder,  First  Lieutenant  von  Bock  und  Polacli,  Second  Lieu- 
tenant Count  Hardenberg,  and  Jiieutenant  Engelbreclit.  A 
peiiisal  of  the  Prussian  Army  List  of  June  1914,  shows  that 
all  these  officers,  with  the  exception  of  Lieutenant  Engelbrecht, 
belonged  to  the  First  Regiment  of  Foot  (luards.  On  the 
24th  August  1914,  tlie  writer  was  in  Ermeton.  The  exact 
translation  of  tlie  extract,  grim  in.  its  brevity,  is  as  follows  : 
"24.8.14.  We  took  about  1,000  prisoners:  at  least  500  were 
"  shot.  The  village  was  burnt  because  inhabitants  had  also 
"  shot.     Two  civilians  were  shot  at  once." 

Wo  may  now  sum  up  and  endeavour  to  explain  the  character 
and  significance  of  the  wrongful  acts  done  by  tlie  ( ierman  army 
in  Belgium. 

If  a  line  is  drawn  on  a  map  from  the  Belgian  frontier  to 
Liege  and  continued  to  Charleroi,  and  a  second  line  drawn  from 
Liege  to  M alines,  a  sort  of  figure  resembling  an  irregular  Y  will 
be  formed.  It  is  along  this  Y  that  most  of  the  systematic  (as 
opposed  to  isolated)  outrages  were  committed.  If  the  period 
from  August  4th  to  August  30th  is  taken  it  will  be  found  to 
cover  most  of  these  organised  outrages.  Termonde  and  A  lost 
extend,  it  is  true,  beyond  the  Y  lines,  and  they  belong  to  the 
month  of  September.  Murder,  rape,  arson,  and  pillage  began 
from  the  moment  when  the  German  army  crossed  the  frontier. 
For  the  first  fortnight  of  the  war  the  towns  and  villages  near 
Liege  were  the  chief  sufferers.  From  the  19th  of  August  to 
the  end  of  the  month,  outrages  spread  in  the  directions  of 
Charleroi  and  Malines  and  reach  their  period  of  greatest 
intensity.  There  is  a  certain  significance  in  the  fact  that  the 
outrages  round  Liege  coincide  with  the  unexpected  resistance 
of  the  Belgian  army  in  that  district,  and  that  the  slaughter 
which  reigned  from  the  19th  August  to  the  end  of  the  month 
is  contemporaneous  with  the  period  when  the  German  army's 
need  for  a  quick  passage  through  Belgium  at  all  costs  was 
deemed  imperative. 

Here  let  a  distinction  be  drawn  between  two  classes  of 
outrages. 

Individual  acts  of  brutality — ill-treatment  of  civilians,  rape, 
plunder,  and  the  like — were  very  widely  committed.  These  are 
more  numerous  and  more  shocking  than  would  be  expected  in 
warfare  between  civilised  Powers,  but  they  differ  rather  in 
extent  than  in  kind  from  what  has  happened  in  previous  though 
notfecent  wars. 

In  all  wars  many  shocking  and  outrageous  acts  must  be 
expected,  for  in  every  large  army  there  must  be  a  proportion  of 
men  of  criminal  instincts  whose  worst  passions  are  unloosed  by 
the  immunity  which  the  conditions  of  warfare  afford.  Drunken- 
ness, moreover,  maj''  turn  even  a  soldier  who  has  no  criminal 
habits  into  a  brute,  who  may  commit  outrages  at  which  he  would 
himself  be  shocked  in  his  sober  moments,  and  there  is  evidence 


40 

that  intoxication  was  oxtreniely  prevalent  among  the  (lerman 
army,  both  in  ncl,i;'ium  and  in  Franco,  for  plenty  of  wine  was  to  be 
found  in  the  villages  and  country  lioiises  which  were  pillaged/ 
jMany  of  the  worst  outrages  appear  to  have  been  j^erpetrated  by 
men  under  the  influence  of  drink.  Unfortunately  little  seems 
to  have  been  done  to  repress  this  source  of  danger. 

In  the  present  war,  however — and  this  is  the  gravest  charge 
against  the  German  army — the  evidence  shows  that  the  killing 
of  non-combatants  was  carried  out  to  an  extent  for  which  nc^ 
previous  war  between  nations  claiming  to  be  civilised  (for  such 
cases  as  the  atrocities  perpetrated  by  the  Turks  on  the  Bulgarian 
Christians  in  1876,  and  on  the  Armenian  Christians  in  1895  and 
189G,  do  not  belong  to  that  category)  furnishes  any  precedent. 
That  this  killing  was  done  as  part  of  a  deliberate  plan  is 
clear  from  the  facts  hereinbefore  set  forth  regarding  Louvain, 
Aerschot,  Dinant,  and  other  towns.  The  killing  Avas  done  under 
orders  in  each  place.  It  began  at  a  certain  fixed  date,  and 
stopped  (with  some  few  exceptions)  at  another  fixed  date.  Some 
of  the  officers  avIio  carried  out  the  work  did  it  reluctantly,  and 
said  they  were  obeying  directions  from  their  chiefs.  The  same 
remarks  apply  to  the  destruction  of  property.  House  burning 
Avas  part  of  the  programme  ;  and  villages,  even  large  parts  of  a 
city,  were  given  to  the  flames  as  part  of  the  terrorising  policy. 

Citizens  of  neutral  states  who  A^isited  Belgium  in  December 
and  January  report  that  the  German  autliorities  do  not  deny 
that  non-combatants  Avere  systematically  killed  in  large  numbers 
during  the  first  Aveeks  of  the  invasion,  and  this,  so  far  as  Ave 
knoAV,  has  never  been  officially  denied.  If  it  were  denied,  the 
flight  and  continued  voluntary  exile  of  thousands  of  Belgian 
refugees  Avould  go  far  to  contradict  a  denial,  for  there  is  no 
historical  parallel  in  modern  times  for  the  flight  of  a  large  part 
of  a  nation  before  an  invader. 

The  German  GoA^ernment  have,  however,  sought  to  justify 
their  severities  on  the  grounds  of  military  necessity,  and  have 
excused  them  as  retaliation  for  cases  in  which  civilians  fired  on 
German  troops.  There  may  have  been  cases  in  Avhich  such 
firing  occurred,  but  no  proof  has  ever  been  given,  or,  to  our 
knoAvledge,  attempted  to  be  given,  of  such  cases,  nor  of  the 
stories  of  shocking  outrages  perpetrated  by  Belgian  men  and 
AA^omen  on  German  soldiers. 

The  inherent  improbability  of  the  German  contention  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  after  the  first  few  daj^s  of  the  iuA^asion 
every  possible  precaution  had  been  taken  by  the  Belgian  autho- 
rities, by  Avay  of  placards  and  hand-bills,  to  Avarn  the  civilian 
population  not  to  intervene  in  hostilities.  Throughout  Belgium 
steps  had  been  taken  to  secure  the  handing  over  of  all  firearms 
in  the  possession  of  civilians  before  the  German  army  arriA-ed. 
These  steps  Avere  sometimes  taken  by  the  police  and  sometimes 
by  the  military  authorities. 


41 

The  invaders  appear  to  have  proceeded  upon  the  tlieory  tliat 
any  chance  shot  coming  from  an  unexpected  pLace  was  fired  by 
civilians.  One  favourite  form  of  this  allegation  was  that  priests 
had  fired  from  the  church  tower.  In  many  instances  the 
soldiers  of  the  allied  armies  used  church  towers  and  private 
houses  as  cover  for  their  operations.  At  Aerschot,  where  the 
Belgian  soldiers  were  stationed  in  the  church  tower  and  fired 
upon  the  Germans  as  they  advanced,  it  was  at  once  alleged  by 
the  Germans  when  they  entered  the  town,  and  with  difficulty 
disproved,  that  the  firing  had  come  from  civilians.  Thus  one 
elementary  error  creeps  at  once  into  the  German  argument,  for 
they  were  likely  to  confound,  and  did  in  some  instances 
certainly  confound,  legitimate  military  operations  with  the 
hostile  intervention  of  civilians. 

Troops  belonging  to  the  same  army  often  fire  by  mistake 
upon  each  other.  That  the  German  armj'  was  no  exception  to 
this  rule  is  proved  not  only  Ijy  many  Belgian  witnesses  but  by 
the  most  irrefragable  kind  of  evidence,  the  admission  of 
German  soldiers  themselves  recorded  in  their  war  diaries. 
Thus  Otto  Clepp,  2nd  Company  of  the  Reserve,  says,  under 
date  22nd  of  August :  "  3  a.m.  Two  infantry  regiments  shot 
"  at  each  other — 9  dead  and  50  wounded — fault  not  yet  ascer- 
"  tained."  In  this  connection  the  diaries  of  Kurt  Hoffmann, 
and  a  soldier  of  the  I12th  Regimejit  (diary  No.  14)  will  repay 
study.  In  such  cases  the  obvious  interest  of  the  soldier  is  to 
conceal  his  mistake,  and  a  convenient  method  of  doing  so  is  to 
raise  the  cry  of  "  francs-tireurs." 

Doubtless  the  German  soldiers  often  believed  that  the  civilian 
population,  naturally  hostile,  had  in  fact  attacked  them.  This 
attitude  of  mind  may  have  been  fostered  by  the  German  autho- 
rities themselves  before  the  troops  passed  the  frontier,  and 
thereafter  stories  of  alleged  atrocities  committed  by  Belgians 
upon  Germans  such  as  the  myth  referred  to  in  one  of  the 
diaries  relating  to  Liege,  were  circulated  amongst  the  troops 
and  roused  their  anger. 

The  diary  of  Barthel  wdien  still  in  Germany  on  the  lOth 
of  August  shows  that  he  believed  that  the  Oberburgomaster  of 
Liege  had  murdered  a  surgeon  general.  The  fact  is  that  no 
violence  was  inflicted  on  the  inhabitants  at  Liege  until  the  I9th, 
and  no  one  who  studies  these  pages  can  have  any  doubt  that 
Liege  would  immediately  have  been  given  over  to  murder  and 
destruction  if  any  such  incident  had  occurred. 

Letters  written  to  their  homes  which  have  been  found  on 
the  bodies  of  dead  Germans,  bear  witness,  in  a  way  that  now 
sounds  pathetic,  to  the  kindness  with  which  they  were  received 
by  the  civil  population.  Their  evident  surprise  at  this  i-eception 
was  due  to  the  stories  which  had  been  dinned  into  their  ears 
of  soldiers  with  their  eyes  gouged  out,  treacherous  murders, 
and  poisoned  food,  stories  which   liiay  have  been  encouraged 


42 

by  the  Jiigher  military  authorities  in  order  to  impress  the  mind 
c)L'  tlie  troops  as  well  as  for  the  sake  of  justifying  the  measures 
which  tlu^y  took  to  terrify  the  civil  population.  If  there  is 
any  truth  in  such  stories,  no  attempt  has  been  madt*  to  establish 
it.  For  instance,  the  Chancellor  of  the  German  Empire,  in  a 
communication  made  to  the  press  on  September  2  and  printed 
in  the  "  Nord  Deutsche  AUgemeine  Zeitung,"  of  September  21, 
said  as  follows  :  "  Belgian  girls  gouged  out  the  eyes  of  the 
"  Cierman  Avounded.  Officials  of  Belgian  cities  have  invited 
"  our  officers  to  dinner  and  shot  and  killed  them  across  the 
"  table.  Contrary  to  all  international  law,  the  whole  civilian 
"  population  of  Belgium  Avas  called  out,  and  after  having  at 
"  first  shown  friendliness,  carried  on  in  the  rear  of  our  troops 
"  terrible  Avarfare  with  concealed  weapons.  B(>lgian  women 
"  cut  the  throats  of  soldiers  whom  they  had  quartered  in  their 
"  homes  while  they  were  sleeping." 

No  evidence  whatever  seems  to  have  been  adduced  to  prove 
these  tales,  and  though  there  may  be  cases  in  which  individual 
Belgians  fired  on  the  Germans,  the  statement  that  "  the  whole 
"  civilian  population  of  Belgium  was  called  out  "  is  utterly 
opposed  to  the  fact. 

An  invading  army  may  be  entitled  to  shoot  at  sight  a 
civilian  caught  redhanded,  or  anyone  who  though  not  caught 
red-handed  is  proved  guilty  on  enquiry.  But  this  was  not  the 
practice  followed  by  the  German  troops.  They  do  not  seem  to 
have  made  any  enquiry.  They  seized  the  civilians  of  the 
village  indiscriminately  and  killed  them,  or  such  as  they 
selected  from  among  them,  without  the  least  regard  to  guilt 
or  innocence.  The  mere  cry  "  Civilisten  haben  geschossen  " 
was  enough  to  hand  over  a  whole  village  or  district  and  even 
outlying  places  to  ruthless  slaughter. 

We  gladly  record  the  instances  Avhere  the  evidence  shows 
that  hunumity  had  not  wholly  disappeared  from  some  membejs 
of  the  German  army,  and  that  they  realised  that  the  responsible 
heads  of  that  organisation  were  employing  them,  not  in  war 
g  q  but  in  butchery  ;   "  I  am  merely  executing  orders,  and  I  should 

be  shot  if  I  did  not  execute  them,"  said  an  ollicer  to  a  witness 
k.  lu.  at  Louvain.  At  ]3russels  another  officer  says  :  "  I  have  not 
"  done  one  hundredth  ])art  of  Avhat  we  have  been  ordered  to 
"  do  by  the  High  Gierman  military  autiiorities." 

As  we  have  already  observed,  it  would  be  unjust  to 
charge  upon  the  German  army  generally  acts  of  cruelty  which, 
whether  due  to  drunkenness  or  not.  were  done  by  men  of  brutal 
instincts  and  unbridled  passions.  iSucli  crimes  were  sometimes 
punished  by  the  officers.  They  were  in  some  cases  offset  by 
acts  of  humanity  and  kindliness.  But  when  an  army  is 
directed  or  permitted  to  kill  non-combatants  on  a  large  scale, 
the  ferocity  of  the  worst  natures  springs  into  fuller  life,  and 
both  lust  and  the  thirst  of  blood  become  more  Avidespread 
and  more  formidable.     Had  less   licence  been  allowed  to  the 


43 

soldiers,  and  liad  they  not  been  set  to  work  to  slaughtei- 
civilians,  tliere  would  have  l)een  icwer  of  those  painful  cases 
ill  which  a  depraved  and  morbid  cruelty  appears. 

Two  classes  of  murders  in  particular  require  special  mention, 
because  one  of  them  is  almost  new,  and   the  other  altogether 
unprecedented.     The  former  is  the   seizure  of  peaceful  citizens 
as  so-called  hostages  to  be  kept  as  a  pledge  for  the  conduct  of 
the   civil  population,   or  as  a  means  to  secure  some  military 
advantage,    or  to  compel  the  payment  of  a    contribution,    the 
hostages  being  shot  if  the  condition  imposed  by  the  arbitrary 
will  of  the  invader  is  not  fultilled.     Such  hostage  taking,  witli 
the  penalty  of  death  attached,  has  now  and  then  happened,  the 
most  notable  case  being  the   shooting   of   the   Archbishop    ol' 
Paris  and  some  of  his  clergy  by  the  Communards  of  Paris  in 
1871,  but  it  is  opposed  l)oth  to  the  rules  of  war  and  to  every 
principle  of  justice  and  humanity.     The  latter  kind  of  murder 
is  the  killing  of  the  innocent  inhabitants  of  a  village   because 
shots  have  been  fired,  or  are  alleged  to  have  been  fired,  on  the 
troops  by  someone  in  the  village.     For  this  practice  no  pre\'ious 
example  and  no   justification   have   been    or   can   be    pleaded. 
Soldiers   suppressing    an    insurrection    may    have    sometimes 
slain  civilians  mingled  Avith   insurgents,  and  Napoleon's  forces 
in  Spain  are  said   to  have  now  and  then  killed  promiscuoush' 
when  trying  to  clear  guerillas  out  of  a  village.     But  in  Belgium 
large  bodies  of  men,  sometimes  including  the  burgomaster  and 
the  priest,  were  seized,  marched  by  officers  to  a  sjiot  chosen 
for   the    purpose,   and   there  shot  in  cold  blood,   without    any 
attempt  at  trial  or  even  inquiry,  under  the  pretence  of  inflicting 
punishment  upon  the  village,   though  these  unhappy   victims 
were  not  even  charged  with  having  themselves  committed  any 
wi'ongful  act,  and  though,  in  some  cases  at  least,  the  village 
authorities  had  done  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  any  molesta- 
tion of  the  invading  force.     Such  acts  are  no  part  of  war,  for 
innocence  is  entitled  to  respect  even  in  war.     They  are  mere 
nmrders,  just  as  the   drowning  of  the  innocent  passengers  and 
crews  on  a  merchant  ship  is  murder  and  not  an  act  of  war. 

That  these  acts  should  have  been  perpetrated  on  the  peaceful 
population  of  an  unoffending  country  which  Avas  not  at  war  with 
its  invaders  but  merely  defending  its  own  neutrality,  guaranteed 
by  the  invading  Power,  may  excite  amazement  and  even 
incredulity.  It  was  with  amazement  and  almost  with  incredulity 
that  the  Committee  first  read  the  depositions  relating  to  such 
acts.  But  when  the  evidence  regarding  Liege  was  followed  by 
that  regarding  Aerschot,  Louvain,  Andenne,  Dinant,  and  the 
other  towns  and  villages,  the  cumulative  effect  of  such  a  mass  of 
concurrent  testimony  became  irresistible,  and  we  were  driven  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  things  described  had  really  happened. 
The  question  then  arose  how  they  could  have  happened.  Not 
from  mere  military  licence,  for  the  discipline  of  the  German 


44 

army  is  proverbially  stringent,  and  its  ()l)ediencc  implicit.  Not 
I'rom  any  special  ferocity  of  the  troops,  for  whoever  has  travelled 
among  the  German  peasantry  knows  that  they  are  as  kindly 
and  good-natured  as  any  people  in  Europe,  and  those  who  can 
recall  the  war  of  J  870  will  remember  that  no  charges  resembling 
those  proved  by  those  depositions  Avere  then  established.  The 
excesses  recently  committed  in  Belgium  were,  moreover,  too 
widespread  and  too  uniform  in  their  character  to  be  mere 
sporadic  outbursts  of  passion  or  rapacity. 

The  explanation  seems  to  be  that  these  excesses  were 
committed — in  sonie  cases  ordered,  in  others  allowed — on  a 
system  and  in  pursuance  of  a  set  purpose.  That  purpose  was 
to  strike  terror  into  the  civil  population  and  dishearten  the 
Belgian  troops,  so  as  to  crush  down  resistance  and  extinguish 
the  very  spirit  of  self-defence.  The  j)retext  that  civilians  had 
fired  upon  the  invading  troops  was  used  to  justify  not  merely 
the  shooting  of  individual  francs-tireurs,  but  the  murder  of  large 
numbers  of  innocent  civilians,  an  act  absolutely  forbidden  by 
the  rules  of  civilised  warfare. ■•■■ 

In  the  minds  of  Prussian  officers  War  seems  to  have  become 
a  sort  of  sacred  mission,  one  of  the  highest  functions  of  the 
omnipotent  State,  which  is  itself  as  much  an  Army  as  a  State. 
Ordinary  morality  and  the  ordinary  sentiment  of  pity  vanish  in 
its  presence,  superseded  by  a  new  standard  which  justifies  to 
the  soldier  every  means  that  can  conduce  to  success,  however 
shocking  to  a  natural  sense  of  justice  and  humanity,  however 
revolting  to  his  own  feelings.  The  Spirit  of  War  is  deified. 
Obedience  to  the  State  and  its  War  Lord  leaves  no  room  for 
any  other  duty  or  feeling.  Cnielty  becomes  legitimate  when 
it  promises  victory.  Proclaimed  by  the  heads  of  the  army, 
this  doctrine  would  seem  to  have  permeated  the  officers  and 
alTected  even  the  private  soldiers,  leading  them  to  justify  the 
killing  of  non-combatants  as  an  act  of  war,  and  so  accustoming 
them  to  slaughter  that  even  women  and  children  become  at  last 
the  victims.  It  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  a  national  doctrine, 
for  it  neither  springs  from  nor  reflects  the  mind  and  feelings 
of  the  German  people  as  they  have  heretofore  been  known  to  other 
nations.  It  is  a  specifically  military  doctrine,  the  outcome  of  a 
theory  held  by  a  ruling  caste  who  have  brooded  and  thought, 
written  and  talked  and  dreamed  about  War  until  they  have 
fallen  under  its  obsession  and  been  hypnotised  by  its  spirit. 

The  doctrine  is  plainly  set  forth  in  the  German  Official 
Monograph  on  the  usages  of  War  on  land,  issued  under  the 
direction  of  the  German  staff.  This  book  is  pervaded  through- 
out by  the  view  that  whatever  military  needs  suggest  becomes 


*  As  to  this,  see,  in  Appendix,  the  Rules  of  the  Hague  Convention  of  1907,j 
to  which  Germany  was  a  signatoiy. 


45 

thereby  lawful,  and  upon  this  principle,  as  the  diaries  sliow,  the 
Gertuan  officers  acted.* 

If  this  explanation  be  the  true  one,  the  mystery  is  sohed, 
and  that  which  seemed  scarcely  credible  becomes  more  intelli- 
gible though  not  less  pernicious.  This  is  not  the  only  case  that 
history  records  in  which  a  false  theory,  disguising  itself  as 
loyalty  to  a  State  or  to  a  Church,  has  perverted  the  conception 
of  Duty,  and  become  a  source  of  danger  to  the  world. 


PART   II. 

Having  thus  narrated  the  offences  committed  in  Belgium, 
which  it  has  been  proper  to  consider  as  a  whole,  we  now  turn  to 
another  branch  of  the  subject,  the  breaches  of  the  usages 
of  war  which  appear  in  the  conduct  of  the  German  arm}- 
generally. 

This  branch  has  been  considered  under  the  following- 
heads  : — 

.  First.      The    treatment   of    non-combatants,    whether   in 
Belgium  or  in  France,  including— 
'(a)  the  killing  of  non-combatants  in  France  ; 
(6)  the  treatment  of  women  and  children  ; 

(c)  the  using  of  innocent  non-combatants  as  a  screen 

or  shield  in  the  conduct  of  military  operations  ; 

(d)  looting,  burning,  and  the  wanton  destruction  of 

property. 

Secondly.     Offences,  committed  in  the  course  of  ordinary 
military  operations,  which  violate  the  usages  of  war  and 
the  provisions  of  the  Hague  Convention. 
This  division  includes — 

(a)  killing  the  wounded  or  prisoners  ; 

{h)  firing  on  hospitals  or  on  the  Red  Cross  ambulances 

and  stretcher  bearers ; 
(c)  abuse  of  the  Red  Cross  or  of  the  White  Flag. 


TREATMENT  OF  THE  CIVILIAN  POPULATION. 

(a)  Killing  of  Non-Combatants. 

The  killing  of  civilians  in  Belgium  has  been  already 
described  sufficiently.  Outrages  on  the  civilian  population  of 
the  invaded  districts,  the  burning  of  villages,  the  sliooting  of 
innocent  inhabitants  and  the  taking  of  hostages,  pillage  and 
destruction  continued  as  the  German  armies  passed  into  France. 

*  Krtegshrauch  im  Landhriege,  Berlin,  1902,  in  Yol.  VI.,  in  the  series 
entitled  Kriegsgeschichtliche  Einzelschriften,  published  in  1905.  A  trans- 
lation of  this  monograph,  l)y  Professor  J.  H.  Morgan,  has  recently  been 
published. 


Jf) 

J'he  diary  ol  the  8axou  ollicrr  above  referred  to  describes  acts 
of  this  kind  coinmitted  by  tlie  (.Jernian  soldiers  in  advancing  to 
tlie  Aisne  at  the  end  of  August  and  after  they  Jiad  jDassed 
the  French  frontier,  as  well  as  when  they  were  in  Belgian 
territory. 

A  prochunation  (a  specimen  of  which  was  produced  to  the 
Committee)  issued  at  Reims,  and  placarded  over  the  town, 
affords  a  clear  illustration  of  the  methods  adopted  by  the 
lierinan  Hi.^lier  Command.  The  population  of  Reims  is 
wai'ued  that  on  the  slightest  disturbance  part  or  the  whole  of 
ilic  city  will  be  burnt  to  the  gi'ound  and  all  the  hostages  taken 
Irom  the  city  (a  long  list  of  whom  is  given  in  the  proclamation) 
iunnediately  shot. 

The  evidence,  liowever,  submitted  to  the  Committee  with 
regard  to  the  conduct  of  the  Gennan  army  in  France  is  not 
nearly  so  full  as  that  with  regard  to  Belgium.  There  is  no 
body  of  civilian  refugees  in  England,  and  tlie  French,  witnesses 
have  generally  laid  their  evidence  before  tlieir  own  Governmeut. 
The  evidence  forwarded  to  us  consists  principally  of  the  state- 
ments of  British  officers  and  soldiers  Avho  took  part  in  the 
retreat  after  the  battle  of  Mons  and  in  the  subsequent  advance, 
following  tlie  (lermans  from  the  Marne.  The  area  cov(>red  is 
relatively  small,  and  it  is  fi'om  French  reports  that  any  complete 
account  of  what  occurred  in  tlie  invaded  districts  in  France  as  a 
whole  must  be  obtained. 

Naturally  soldiers  in  a  foreign  country,  with  which  they  were 
unacquainted,  cannot  be  expected  ahvays  to  give  accurately  the 
names  of  villages  through  Avhich  they  passed  on  their  marches, 
but  this  does  not  prevent  their  evidence  from  being  definite  as 
to  what  they  actually  saw  in  the  farms  and  houses  where  the 
(lerman  troops  had  recently  been.  Many  shocking  outrages  are 
recorded.  Three  examples  here  may  suffice,  others  are  given  in 
1.  4.  the  Appendix.     xV  sergeant  who  had  been  through  the  retreat 

from  Mons,  and  then  taken  part  in  the  advance  from  the  Marne, 
and  who  had  been  engaged  in  driving  out  some  German  troops 
from  a  village,  states  that  his  troop  halted  outside  a  bakery  just 
inside  the  village.  It  was  a  private  house  where  baking  was 
done,  "  not  like  our  bakeries  here."  Two  or  three  women  were 
standing  at  tlic  door.  The  Avomen  motioned  them  to  come  into 
tlie  house,  as  did  also  three  civilian  Frenchmen  who  were  there. 
T'liey  took  them  into  a  garden  at  the  back  of  the  house.  At  the 
end  of  the  garden  was  the  bakery.  They  saw  two  old  men — 
between  60  and  70  years  of  age — and  one  old  woman  lying  close 
to  each  other  in  the  garden.  All  three  had  the  scalps  cut  right 
through  and  the  brains  were  hanging  out.  They  were  still 
bleeding.  Apparently  they  had  only  just  been  killed.  The 
three  French  civilians  belonged  to  this  same  house.  One  of 
them  spoke  a  few  words  of  English.  He  gave  them  to  under- 
stand that  these  three  had  been  killed  by  the  Germans  because 
they  had  refused  to  bake  bread  for  them. 


47 

Another  witness  states  that  two  ("Jerman  soldiors  took  hold  of  !•  !<'■ 
a  young  civilian  named  D.  and  bound  his  hands  behind  his  back, 
and  struck  him  in  the  face  with  their  fists.  The}'  then  tied  his 
hands  in  front  and  fastened  the  cord  to  the  tail  of  the  horse. 
The  horse  dragged  him  for  about  SOj^ardsand  then  the  (iermans 
loosened  his  hands  and  left  him.  The  whole  of  his  face  was  cut 
and  torn  and  his  arms  and  legs  were  bruised.  On  the  following 
day  one  of  his  sisters,  whose  husband  was  a  soldier,  came  to 
tlieir  house  with  her  four  children.  His  brother,  who  was  also 
married  and  who  lived  in  a  village  near  Valenciennes,  went  to  ' 
fetch  the  bread  for  his  sister.  On  the  way  back  to  tlieir  house 
he  met  a  patrol  of  Uhlans,  who  took  him  to  the  market 
place  at  Valenciennes  and  then  shot  him.  About  12  other 
civilians  were  also  shot  in  the  market  place.  The  Uhlans  then 
burned  19  houses  in  the  village,  and  afterwards  burned  the 
corpses  of  the  civilians,  including  that  of  his  brother.  His 
father  and  his  uncle  afterwards  went  to  see  the  dead  body  of  his 
brother,  but  the  German  soldiers  I'efused  to  allow  them  to  pass. 

A  lance-corporal  in  the  Rifles,  who  was  on  patrol  duty  with 
five  privates  during  the  retirement  of  the  Germans  after  the 
Marne,  states  that  they  entered  a  house  in  a  small  village  and 
took  ten  Uhlans  prisoners  and  then  searched  the  house  and 
found  two  women  and  two  children.  One  was  dead,  but  the 
body  not  yet  cold.  The  left  arm  had  been  cut  off  just  below  ^-  ^• 
the  elbow.  The  floor  was  covered  with  blood.  The  Avoman's 
clothing  was  disarranged.  The  other  woman  was  alive  but  un- 
conscioi^s.  Her  right  leg  had  been  cut  off  above  the  knee. 
There  were  two  little  children,  a  boy  about  4  or  5  and  a  girl  of 
about  6  or  7.  The  boy's  left  hand  was  cut  off  at  the  wrist  and 
the  girl's  right  hand  at  the  same  place.  They  were  both  quite 
dead.  The  same  witness  states  that  lie  saw  several  women  and 
children  lying  dead  in  various  other  places,  but  says  he  could 
not  say  whether  this  might  not  have  been  accidentally  caused 
in  legitimate  iighting. 

The  evidence  before  us  proves  that,  in  the  parts  of  France 
referred  to,  murder  of  unoffending  civilians  and  other  acts  of 
cruelty,  including  aggravated  cases  of  rape,  carried  out  under 
threat  of  death,  and  sometimes  actually  followed  by  murder  of 
the  victim,  Avere  committed  liy  some  of  the  (iernian  troops. 


(h)  The  Treatment  of  Women  and  Cjiildhen. 

The  evidence  shows  that  the  German  authorities,  when 
carrjdng  out  a  policy  of  systematic  arson  and  plunder  in 
selected  districts,  usually  drew  some  distinction  between  the 
adult  male  population  on  the  one  hand  and  the  women  and 
children  on  the  other.  It  was  a  frecpient  practice  to  set  apart 
the  adult  males  of  the  condemned  district  with  a  view  to  the 
execution  of  a  suitable  number — preferably  of  the  younger 
and  more  vigorous — and  to  reserve  the  women  and  children 

O     28800  D 


48' 

for  iiiildcr  Ueatincnt.     The  depositions,  liowever,  present  many 
Instances '  of    calculated   cruelty,    often    going    the   length    of 
murder,  towards  the  women  and  children  of  the  condemned 
c  36.         area.     Wi^   liaA'e   ali-eady    refei-red  to    the    case     of   Xerschot, 
where    the   women    and    children    were     herded   in   a   church 
which   had    recently   been   vised  as   a  stable,    detained  foi-   48 
hours  with  no  food  other  than    coarse    bread,  and  denied   the 
b  26.         common  decencies  of  life.     Al  Dinant  ()<)  women  and  children 
were  confined  in  the  cellar  of  a  convent  from  Sunday  morning 
till  the  following  Friday  (August  28tli),  sleeping  on  the  ground, 
for  there  were  no  beds,  with  notliing  to  drink  during  the  whole 
period,  and  given  no  food  until   the  Wednesday,  "  when  some- 
"  body  thi-ew  into  the  cellar  two  sticks  of  macaroni  and  a  caiTot 
"  for  each  prisoner."     In  other  cases  the  women  and  children 
e  4.         were  marched  for  long    distances  along  roads  {e.g.,  march   of 
®  ^J^-         women  from  Louvain  to  Tirlemont,  28th  August),  the  laggards 
*e  s'         pricked  on   by  the  attendant    Uhlans.      A   lady    complains   of 
;  13,  e  17.     having  been  brutally  kicked  by  privates.     Others  were  struck 
a  27.         with  the  butt  end  of  rifles.     At  Louvain,  at  Liege,  at  Aerschot, 
c  7.  at  Malines,  at  Montigny,  at  Andenne,  and  elsewhere,  there  is 

I  19  1  9       evidence  that  the  troops  were  not  restrained  from  drunkenness, 
and  drunken  soldiers  cannot  be  trusted   to  observe    the  rules 
or  decencies  of  war,  least  of  all  when  they  are  called  Tipon  to 
execute  a  pre-ordained  plan  of  arson  and  pillage.      From  the 
a  28.         very  first  women  were  not  safe.     At  Liege  women  and  children 
were  chased  about   the  streets  by  soldiers.     A  witness  gives  a 
a  31.         story,  very  circumstantial  in  its  details,   of  how  women  were 
c  38.         publicly   raped    in    the   market-place    of   the   city,    five  young 
^  "^"^       German  officers  assisting.     At  Aerschot  men  and  women  were 
^  '-.J  ^'      deliberately   shot   when    coming   out   of  burning  houses.     At 
Liege,  Louvain,  Sempst,  and  Malines  women  were  burned  to 
death,  either  because  they  were  surprised  and  stupefied  by  the 
fumes  of  the  conflagration,  or  because  they  were  prevented  from 
c  15.         escaping  by  German   soldiers.     Witnesses  recount  how  a  great 
^     '         crowd  of  men,  women,  and  children  from  Aerschot  were  marched 
to  Louvain,  and  then  suddenly  exposed  to  a  fire  from  a  mitrail- 
leuse and  rifles.     "  We   were  all  placed,"   recounts  a  sufferer, 
"  in  Station  Street,  Louvain,  and  the  Geraian  soldiers  fired  on 
"  us.     I  saw  the  corpses  of  some  women  in  the  street.     I  fell 
"  down,  and  a  woman  who  had  been  shot  fell  on  top  of  me." 
Women  and  children  suddenly  turned  out  into  the  streets,  and 
compelled  to  witness  the  destruction  by  fire  of  their  homes, 
provided  a  sad  spectacle  to  such  as  were  sober  enough  to  see. 
®  3-  A   humane  German    officer,  witnessing   the  ruin  of   Aerschot, 

exclaims  in  disgust :  "  I  am  a  father  myself,  and  I  cannot  bear 
this.  It  is  not  war,  but  butchery."  Officers,  as  well  as  men, 
succumbed  to  the  temptation  of  drink,  with  results  which  may  be 
c  46,  illustrated  by  an  incident  which  occurred  at  Campenhout.  In 
this  village  there  was  a  certain  well-to-do  merchant  (name  given), 
Avho  had  a  good  cellar  of  champagne.     On  the  afternoon  of  the 


f 


49 

14th  or  loth  August,  tliree  German  cavalry  ofticers  entered  the 
house  and  demanded  cluimpagne.  Having  drank  ten  bottles, 
and  invited  five  or  six  oflicers  and  three  or  four  private  soldiers 
to  join  them,  tliey  continued  their  carouse,  and  then  called  for 
the  master  and  mistress  of  the  house  :  "  Immediately  my  mistress 
came  in,"  says  the  valet  de  chambre,  "  one  of  the  officers  who 
"  was  sitting  on  the  floor  got  up,  and,  putting  a  revolver  to  my 
"  mistress'  temple,  shot  her  dead.  The  officer  was  obviously 
"  drunk.  The  other  officers  continued  to  drink  and  sing,  and 
"  they  did  not  pay  great  attention  to  the  killing  of  my  mistress. 
"  The  officer  who  shot  my  mistress  then  told  my  master  to  dig 
"  a  grave  and  bury  my  mistress.  My  master  and  the  officer 
"  went  into  the  garden,  the  officer  threatening  my  master  with 
"  a  pistol.  My  master  was  then  forced  to  dig  the  grave,  and 
"  to  bury  the  body  of  my  mistress  in  it.  I  cannot  say  for  what 
"  reason  tliey  killed  my  mistress.  The  officer  who  did  it  was 
"  singing  all  the  time." 

In  the  evidence  before  us  tliere  are  cases  tending  to  show 
that  aggravated  crimes  against  women  were  sometimes  severely 
punished.  One  witness  reports  that  a  young  girl  who  was 
being  pursued  by  a  drunken  soldier  at  Louvain  appealed  to  a 
German  officer,  and  that  the  offender  was  then   and  there  shot  :  ®  13- 

another  describes  how  an  officer  of  the  32nd  Regiment  of  the 
Line  was  led  out  to  execution  for  the  violation  of  two  young  a  32. 
girls,  but  reprieved  at  the  request  or  with  the  consent  of  the 
girls'  mother.  These  instances  are  sufficient  to  show  that  the 
maltreatment  of  women  was  no  part  of  the  military  scheme  of 
the  invaders,  however  much  it  may  appear  to  have  been  .the 
inevitable  result  of  the  system  of  terror  deliberately  adopted  in 
certain  regions.  Indeed,  so  much  is  avowed:  "I  asked  the 
"  commander  why  we  had  been  spared,"  'says  a  lady  in 
Louvain,  who  deposes  to  having  suffered  much  brutal  treatment 
during  the  sack.  He  said,  "  We  will  not  hurt  you  an}^  more.  e.  13. 
"  Stay  in  Louvain.  All  is  finished."  It  was  Saturday, 
August  29th,  and  the  reign  of  terror  was  over. 

Apart  from  the  crimes  committed  in  special  areas  and 
belonging  to  a  scheme  of  systematic  reprisals  for  the  alleged 
shooting  by  civilians,  there  is  evidence  of  offences  committed 
against  women  and  children  by  individual  soldiers,  or  by  small 
groups  of  soldiers,  both  in  the  advance  through  Belgium  and 
France  as  in  the  retreat  from  the  Marne.  Indeed,  the  discipline 
appears  to  have  been  loose  during  the  retreat,  and  there  is 
evidence  as  to  the  burning  of  villages,  and  the  murder  and 
violation  of  their  female  inhabitants  during  this  episode  of  the  j  i 

war. 

In  this  tale  of  horrors  hideous  forms  of  mutilation  occur  ^7" 
!  with  some  frequency  in  the  depositions,  two  of  which  may  be  ^  3^' 
j  connected  in  some  instances  with  a  perverted  form  of  sexual  d  1. 

instinct. 

D  2 


50  I 

'■  ''*-^-  A  third  form  of  iinitllation,  the  cnttine-  of  one  or  bolhluinds, 

.,-  "■  is  frequently  said  to  liave  taken  place.  In  some  cases  where 
this  form  of  mutilation  is  alleged  to  have  occurred  it  may  be 
the  consecjuence  of  a  cavalry  charge  up  a  village  street,  hacking 
and  slashing  at  everything  in  the  "way  ;  in  others  the  victim 
may  possibly  have  held  a  weapon,  in  others  the  motive  may 
have  been  the  theft  of  rings. 
>l  ■■;<;,  (1  ^^7.  We  find  many  well-established  cases  of  the  slaughter  (often 

'I  •*•'•  accompanied  by  mutilation)    of  whole  families,   including  not  !| 

,  J',  V  infrequently  tliat  of  quite  small  children.  In  two  cases  it  seems  ' 
to  be  clear  that  preparations  wei'c  made  to  burn  a  family 
alive.  These  crimes  Avere  conunitted  over  a  period  of  manj'- 
weeks  and  simultaneously  in  many  ])laces,  and  the  authorities 
must  have  known  or  ought  to  have  known  that  cruelties  of  this 
character  were  being  perpetrated,  nor  can  anyone  doubt  that 
they  could  haA^e  been  stopped  by  swift  and  decisive  action  on 
the  part  oC  the  heads  of  the  German  army. 

The  use  of  women  and  even  children  as  a  screen  for  the 
protection  of  the  German  troops  is  referred  to  in  a  later  part  of 
this  Report.  From  the  number  of  troops  concerned,  it  must 
have  been  commanded  or  acquiesced  in  by  oflicers,  and  in  sou)e 
cases  the  presence  and  connivance  of  ofhcei-s  is  proved. 
'»'••' ^ -1-  The  cases   of  violation,  sometimes  under  threat   of   death, 

.'■r^'ic)  ^^-^    ^*^  numerous  and  clearly  proved.     We  referred  here  to  com- 
i.i  56  57"'   pai'atively  few  out  of  the  many  that  luxve  been  placed   in  the 
1 22.  Sic.      Appendix,    because   the   circiunstances   are    in  most  instances 
much   the  same.     They  were  often  accompanied  with  cruelty, 
and  the  slaughter  of  Avomen  after  violation  is  more  than  once 
credibly  attested. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  in  some  cases  where  the  body  of  a 
Belgian  or  a  French  Avoman  is  reported  as  lying  in  the  roadside 
pierced  Avith  bayonet  Avounds  or  hanging  naked  from  a  tree,  or 
else  as  lying  gashed  and  mutilated  in  a  cottage  kitchen  or 
bedroom,  the  Avoman  in  fiuestion  gave  some  provocation.  She 
may  by  act  or  word  have  irritated  her  assailant,  and  in  certain 
instances  evidence  has  been  supplied  both  as  to  the  provocation 
oifered  and  as  to  the  retribution  inflicted  : — 
a  4.  (1)  "Just  before  Ave  got  to  Melen,"  says  a  Avitness,  Avho  had 

fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Germans  on  August  5th, 
"  I  saw  a  Avoman  Avitli  a  child  in  her  arms  standing 
"  on  the  side  of  the  road  on  our  left-hand  side 
"  watching  the  soldiers  go  by.  Her  name  was 
"  G  .  .  .  ,  aged  about  sixty-three,  and  a  neigh- 
"  bour  of  mine.  The  ollicer  asked  the  Avoman  for 
"  some  Avater  in  good  French.  She  Avent  inside  her 
"  son's  cottage  to  get  some  and  brought  it  imnie- 
"  diately  he  had  stopped.  The  officer  Avent  into  the 
*'  cottage  garden  and  drank  the  water.  The  Avomaii 
"  then  said,  Avhen  she  saw  the  prisoners,  '  Instead  of 
*'  giving  you  Avater  you  deserve  to  be  shot.'     The 


•J.), 


51 

"  officer  sliouted  to  us,  '  .March.'  We  went  on,  and 
"  immediately  I  saw  the  olhce]-  draw  his  revolver 
"  and  shoot  tlie  woman  and  eliild.  One  shot  killed 
"  both." 

(2)  Two  old  men  and  one  old  woman  refused  to  bake  bread  1  t. 

for  the  Clennans.  Tliev  are  butchered.  [See  above 
p.  46.) 

(3)  23rd  August.     1  went  with   two  friends  (names  given)       d  1^0. 

to  see  what  we  could  see.  About  three  hours  out  of 
Malines  we  were  taken  prisoners  by  a  German  patrol 
— an  officer  and  six  men — and  marched  off  into  a 
little  wood  of  saplings,  where  there  Avas  a  house. 
The  officer  spoke  Flemish.  He  knocked  at  the  door  ; 
the  peasant  did  not  come.  The  officer  ordered  the 
soldiers  to  break  down  the  door,  which  two  of  them 
did.  The  peasant  came  and  asked  what  they  Avere 
doing.  The  officer  said  he  did  not  come  quickly 
enough,  and  that  the}'  had  "  trained  up  "  plenty  of 
others.  His  hands  were  tied  behind  his  back,  and 
lie  was  shot  at  once  without  a  moment's  delay.  The 
wife  came  out  with  a  little  sucking  child.  She  put 
the  child  down  and  sprang  at  the  Germans  like  a 
lioness.  She  clawed  their  faces.  One  of  the  Cfermans 
took  a  rifle  and  struck  lier  a  tremendous  blow  with  the 
butt  on  the  head.  Another  took  his  bayonet  and 
fixed  it  and  thrust  it  through  the  cliild.  He  then  put 
his  rifle  on  his  shoulder  with  the  child  up  it,  its  little 
arms  stretclied  out  once  or  twice.  The  officers 
ordered  the  houses  to  be  set  on  fire,  and  straw  was 
obtained,  and  it  was  done.  The  man  and  his  Avife 
and  the  child  Avere  throAvn  on  the  top  of  the  straAv. 
There  Avere  about  40  other  peasant  prisoners  there 
also,  and  the  officer  said :  "  1  am  doing  this  as  a 
"  lesson  and  example  to  you.  When  a  German  tells 
"  you  to  do  something  next  time  you  must  move 
"  more  quickly."  The  regiment  of  Germans  was  a 
regiment  of  Hussars,  Avith  cross-bones  and  a  death's 
head  on  the  cap. 

Can  anyone  think  that  such  acts  as  these,  committed  Ijy 
Avonien  in  the  circumstances  created  by  the  invasion  of  l^elgium, 
Avere  deserving  of  the  extreme  form  of  vengeance  attested  by 
these  and  other  depositions  ? 

In  considei"ing  the  question  of  provocation  it  is  pertinent  to 
take  into  account  the  numerous  cases  in  Avhich  old  Avomen  and 
very  small  children  have  been  shot,  bayoneted,  and  cA^en 
mutilated.  WhatCA-er  excuse  may  be  offered  by  the  Germans 
for  the  killing  of  groAvn-np  Avomen,  there  can  be  no  possible 
defence  for  the  murder  of  children,  and  if  it  can  be  shown  that 
infants  and  small  children  Avere  not  infrec[uently  bayoneted 
and  shot  it  is  a  fair  inference  that  many  of  the  offences  against 


52 

women  roqiilro  no  explanation  more  recondite  than  the  unbridled 
violence  oJ'  biutal  or  drunken  criminals. 

\X  is  clearly  shown  that  many  offences  were  conmiitted 
against  infants  and  quite  young  children.  On  one  occasion 
children  were  even  roped  together  and  used  as  a  military  screen 
against  the  enemy,  on  another  three  soldiers  went  into  action 
carrying  small  children  to  protect  themselves  from  flank  fire. 
A  shocking  case  of  the  murder  of  a  baby  by  a  drunken  soldier 
at  ^lalines  is  thus  recorded  by  one  eye-witness  and  confirmed 
by  another : — 

i1 4.  "One   day  when    the  (iermans  were  not   actualling   bom- 

barding the  town  I  left  my  house  to  go  to  my  mother's  house 
in  High  Street.  My  husband  was  with  me.  I  saw  eight 
German  soldiers,  and  they  were  drunk.  They  were  singing 
and  making  a  lot  of  noise  and  dancing  about.  As  the  German 
soldiers  came  along  the  street  I  saw  a  small  child,  whether  boy 
or  girl  I  could  iiot  see,  come  out  of  a  house.  The  child  Avas 
about  two  years  of  age.  The  child  came  into  the  middle  of 
the  street  so  as  to  be  in  the  way  of  the  soldiers.  The  soldiers 
were  walking  in  twos.  The  first  line  of  two  passed  the  child ; 
one  of  the  second  line,  the  man  on  the  left,  stepped  aside  and 
drove  his  bayonet  with  both  hands  into  the  child's  stomach, 
lifting  the  child  into  the  air  on  his  bayonet  and  carrying  it 
I  away  on  his  bayonet,  he  and  his  comrades  still  singing.  The 
I  child  screamed  when  the  soldier  struck  it  with  his  bayonet, 
/       but^Ql^afterwards.' ' 

These,  no  doubt,  were  for  the  most  part  the  acts  of  drunken 
soldiers,  but  an  incident  has  been  recorded  which  discloses 
the  fact  that  even  sober  and  highly-placed  officers  were  not 
always  disposed  to  place  a  high  value  on  child  life.  Thus  the 
f  2.  General,  wishing  to  be  conducted  to  the  Town  Hall  at  Lebbeke, 
remarked  in  French  to  his  guide,  who  Avas  accompanied  by  a 
small  boy  :  "If  you  do  not  show  me  the  right  way  I  will 
"  shoot  you  and  your  boy."  There  was  no  need  to  carry  the 
threat  into  execution,  but  that  the  threat  should  have  been  made 
is  significant. 

We  cannot  tell  whether  these  acts  of  cruelty  to  children 
were  part  of  the  scheme  for  inducing  submission  by  inspiring 
terror.  In  Louvain,  where  the  system  of  terrorising  was 
carried  to  the  furthest  limit,  outrages  on  cliildren  were 
uncommon.  The  same,  liOwever,  cannot  be  said  of  some  of 
the  smaller  villages  which  were  subjected  to  the  system.  In 
Hofstade  and  8empst,  in  Haeclit,  Rotselaer  and  Wespelaer, 
many  children  were  murdered.  Nor  can  it  be  said  of  the 
1)  14.  village  of  Tamines  Avhere  three  small  children  (whose  names 
are  given  by  an  eye-witness  of  the  crime)  were  slaughtered 
on  the  green  for  no  apparent  motive.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine 
the  motives  which  may  have  prompted  such  acts.  Whether 
or  no  Belgian  civilians  fired  on  German  soldiers,  young 
children  at  any  rate  did  not  fire.     The  number  and  character 


of  these  murders  constitute  tlio  most  distressiug  feature  ojii- 
jiected  witli  the  conduct  of  the  war  so  far  as  it  is  revealed  in 
the  depositions  submitted  to  tlie  Committee. 

(c)  The  use  of  Civilians  as  Screens. 

We  have  before  us  a  considerable  body  of  evidence  with 
reference  to  the  practice  of  the  Germans  of  using  civilians  and 
sometimes  military  prisoners  as  screens  from  behind  which  they 
could  fire  upon  the  Belgian  troops  in  the  hope  that  the  Belgians 
would  not  return  the  fire  for  fear  of  killing  or  wounding  their 
own  fellow  countrymen. 

In  some  cases  this  evidence  refers  to  places  where  fighting 
was  actually  going  on  in  the  streets  of  a  town  or  village,  and  to 
these  cases  we  attach  little  importance.  It  might  well  happen 
when  terrified  civilians  were  rushing  about  to  seek  safety,  that 
groups  of  them  might  be  used  as  a  screen  by  either  side  of  the 
combatants  without  any  intention  of  inhumanity  or  of  any  breach 
of  the  rules  of  civilised  warfare.  But  setting  aside  these  doubtful 
cases,  there  remains  evidence  which  satisfies  us  that  on  so  many 
occasions  as  to  justify  its  being  described  as  a  practice,  the 
German  soldiers,  under  the  eyes  and  by  the  direction  of  their 
officers,  were  guilty  of  this  act. 

Thus,  for  instance,  outside  Fort  Fleron,  near  Liege,  men  and  g  1. 

children  were  marched  in  front  of  the  Germans  to  prevent  the 
Belgian  soldiers  from  firing. 

The  progress  of  the  Germans  through  Mons  was  marked  b}^  g  3  to  g  9. 
many  incidents  of  this  character.  Thus,  on  the  22nd  August, 
half  a  dozen  Belgian  colliers  returning  from  work  were  marching 
in  front  of  some  German  troops  who  were  pursuing  the  English, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  the  witnesses  they  must  have  been  placed 
there  intentionally.  An  English  officer  describes  how  he  caused 
a  barricade  to  be  erected  in  a  main  thoroughfare  leading  out  of 
Mons,  when  the  Germans  in  order  to  reach  a  cross  road  in  the 
rear,  fetched  civilians  out  of  the  houses  on  each  side  of  the  main 
road  and  compelled  them  to  hold  up  white  flags  and  act  as 
cover. 

Another  British  officer  who  saw  this  incident  is  convinced 
that  the  Germans  were  acting  deliberatel}^  for  the  purpose  of 
protecting  themselves  from  the  fire  of  the  British  troops.  Apart 
from  this  protection,  the  Germans  could  not  have  advanced,  as 
the  street  was  straight  and  commanded  by  the  Britisli  rifle  fire 
at  a  range  of  700  or  800  yards.  Several  British  soldiers  also 
speak  to  this  incident,  and  their  story  is  confirmed  by  a  Flemish 
witness  in  a  side  street. 

On  the  24th  August,  men,  women,  and  children  were  actually        g  H- 
pushed  into  the  front  of  the  German  position  outside  Mons. 
The  witness  speaks  of  16  to  20  women,  about  a  dozen  children, 
and  half  a  dozen  men  being  there. 


5A 

g  14.  *8rvon  (»r  eight   avoiucm   and   (ivo  or  six  very  young  children 

were   utilised  in  this  way  by  some  Uhlans  between  Landrecies 

and  ( luise.  » 

g  15.  A  B(^lgiaii   soldier  saw  an  incident  of  this  character  during 

the  retreat  from  Naniur. 
g  16.  At  tlie  baltle  of  ]\lalines,  60  or  80  Belgian  civilians,  amongst 

whom  were  some  women,  Avere  driven  before  the  German  troops. 
„  17         Another  witness  saw  a  similar  incident  near  ^lalines,  but  a  much 

larger  niuiiber  of  civilians  was  involved,  and  a  priest  was  in 

front  with  a  white  flag, 
g  19.  In  another  instance,  related  by  a  Belgian  soldier,  the  civilians 

were  tied  by  the  wrists  in  groups, 
g  20.  At  Eppeghem,  whore  the  Germans  were  driven  back  by  the 

Belgian  sortie  from  Antwerp,  civilians  Avere  used  as  a  cover  for 

the  German  retreat, 
g  21.  Near  Malines,  early  in  September,  about  10  children,  roped 

together,  were  driven  in  front  of  a  German  force, 
g  22,  At  Londerzeel  30  or  40  civilians,  men,  women  and  children, 

were  placed  at  the  head  of  a  German  column. 
f  9.  One  witness  from  Termonde  was  made  to  stand  in  front  of 

the  Germans,  together  with  others,  all  Avith  their  hands  above 

their  heads.     Those  Avho  alloAved  their  hands  to  drop  Avere  at 
g  24.        once  prodded  Avith  the  bayonet.     Again  at  Termonde,    about 

September  the  10th,  a  number  of  civilians  Avere  shot  by  the 

Belgian  soldiers  Avho  Avere  compelled  to  fire  at  the  Germans, 

taking  the  risk  of  killing  their  oAvn  countrymen, 
g  23.  At    Tournai,    400    Belgian     civilians,    men,    Avomen    and 

children,    Avere   placed    in    front    of    the    Germans    Avho    then 

engaged  the  French, 
g  26,  g  27,  The  operations  outside  AntAverp  Avere  not  free  fi'om  incidents 

g  31.        of  this  character.     Near  AVillebroeck  some  civilians,  including 

a  number  of  children,  a  Avoman  and  (me  old  man,  Avere  driven  in 

front  of  the  (Jerman  troops.     German  officers  AA^ere  present,  and 

one  Avoman  Avho  refused  to  advance  Avas  stabbed  tAvice  Avith  the 

bayonet,  and  a  little  child  Avho  ran  up  to  her  as  she  fell  had  half 

its  head  bloAvn  away  by  a  shot  from  a  rifle, 
g  29.  Other  incidents  of  the  same  kind  are  reported  from  Nazareth 

g  ^^-        and  Ypres.     The  British  troops  were  compelled  to  fire,  in  some 

cases  at  the  risk  of  killing  civilians, 
g  36.  At  Ypres  the  Germans  drove  Avomen  in  front  of  them  by 

pricking  them  with  bayonets.     The  Avounds  Avere    afterAvards 

seen  by  the  Avitness. 

id)  Looting,  Burning,  and  Destruction  of  Property. 

a  16,  a  28,  There  is  an  overwhelming  mass  of  evidence  of  the  deliberate 

c  14.  d  34.    destruction  of  private  property  by  tlie  German  soldiers.     The 

destruction  in  most  cases  Avas  effected  by  fire,  and  the  German 

troops,  as  Avill  be  seen  from  earlier  passages  in  the  Hei)ort,  had 


l)pcn  provided  beforeliand  with  appliances  Jbr  rapidly  setting 
fire  to  lionses.  Amoni]^  the  appliances  enumerated  by  witnesses 
are  syringes  for  scpiirting  petrol,  gnns  for  throwing  small 
inflammable  bombs,  and  small  pellets  made  of  intlammablo 
material.  Specimens  of  the  last-mentioned  have  been  shown  to 
members  of  the  Conmiittee.  Besides  burning  houses  the 
( J ermans  frecpiently  smashed  furniture  and  pictures;  they  also 
broke   in  doors  and  windows.     Frequently,    too,    they    defiled  \'!l' 

houses  by  relieving  the  wants  oC  nature  upon  the  floor.  They  ^  30  ^^"^  ;;;] 
also  appear  to  have  perpetrated  the  same  vileness  upon  piled  d  103,  131, 
up  heaps  of  provisions  so  as  to  destroy   what  they  could  not  >^c. 

themselves  consume.  They  also  on  numerous  occasions  threw 
corpses  into  wells,  or  left  in  them  the  bodies  of  persons 
murdered  by  drowning. 

In  addition  to  these  acts  of  destruction,  the  German  troops  e  -jj. 
both  in  Belgium  and  France  are  proved  to  have  been  guilty  of  ,  ,^*; 
persistent  looting.     In  the  majority  of  cases  the  looting  tooic  f  o  ' 

place  from  houses,  but  there  is  also  evidence  that  (iermaii 
soldiers  and  even  officers  robbed  their  prisoners,  both  civil  and 
military,  of  simis  of  money  and  other  portable  possessions.  It 
was  apparently  well  known  throughout  the  German  army  that 
towns  and  villages  would  be  burned  whenever  it  appeared  that 
an}^  civilians  had  fired  upon  the  German  troops,  and  there 
is  reason  to  suspect  that  this  known  intention  of  the  German 
military  authorities  in  some  cases  explains  the  secpience  of 
events  which  led  up  to  the  burning  and  sacking  of  a  town  or 
village.  The  soldiers,  knowing  that  they  would  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  plunder  if  the  place  Avas  condemned,  had  a  motive  for 
arranging  some  incident  which  Avould  provide  the  necessary 
excuse  for  condemnation.  More  than  one  witness  alleges  that 
shots  coming  from  the  window  of  a  house  were  fired  by  German 
soldiers  who  had  forced  their  way  into  the  house  for  the  purjDose 
of  thus  creating  an  alarm.  It  is  also  alleged  tliat  German 
soldiers  on  some  occasions  merely  fired  their  rifles  in  the  air  in 
a  side  street  and  then  reported  to  their  officers  that  they  had 
been  fired  at.  On  the  report  that  firing  had  taken  place  orders 
were  given  for  wholesale  destruction,  and  houses  were  destroyed 
in  streets  and  districts  where  there  was  no  allegation  that  firing- 
had  taken  place,  as  well  as  in  those  where  the  charge  arose. 
That  the  destruction  could  have  been  limited  is  proved  by  the 
care  taken  to  preserve  particular  houses  whose  occupants  had 
made  themselves  in  one  way  or  another  agreeable  to  the 
conquerors.  These  houses  were  marked  in  chalk  ordering 
them  to  be  spared,  and  spared  they  were. 

The  above  statements  have  reference  to  the  burning  of  towns 
and  villages.  In  addition,  the  German  troops  in  numerous 
instances  have  set  fire  to  farmhouses  and  farm  buildings.  Here, 
however,  the  plea  of  military  necessity  can  more  safely  be 
alleged.  A  farmhouse  may  afford  convenient  shelter  to  an 
enemy,  and  where  such  use  is  probable,  it  may  be  urged  that 


of) 

the  tlcstructiou  ol'  the  buildings  is  justifiable.  It  is  cleurl}^, 
however,  the  duty  of  the  soldiers  who  destroy  the  buildings  to 
give  reasonable  warning  t(^  the  occupants  so  that  they  may 
escape.  Doubtless  this  was  in  many  cases  done  by  the  German 
commanders,  but  there  is  testimony  that  in  some  cases  the 
burning  of  the  farndiouse  was  accompanied  by  the  murder 
of  the  inhabitants. 

The  same  fact  stands  out  clearly  in  the  more  (^xtcnsive 
burning  of  houses  in  towns  and  villages.  In  some  cases,  indeed, 
as  a  prelude  to  the  burning,  inhabitants  w'ere  cleared  out  of  their 
houses  and  driven  along  the  streets,  often  with  much  accom- 
panying brutality— some  to  a  place  of  execution,  othei-s  to 
prolonged  detention  in  a  churcli  or  other  public  buildings.  In 
otlicr  cases  Avitnesses  assert  that  the}^  saw  German  soldiers 
forcing  back  into  the  flames  men,  women,  and  childroi,  who 
were  tiying  to  escape  from  the  burning  houses.  There  is  also 
evidence  that  soldiers  deliberately  shot  doAvn  civilians  as  they 
fled  from  the  fire. 

The  general  conclusion  is  that  the  burning  and  destruction 
of  property  which  took  place  was  only  in  a  veiy  small  minority 
of  cases  justified  by  military  necessity,  and  that  even  then  the 
destruction  w^as  seldom  accompanied  by  that  care  for  the  lives 
of  non-combatants  which  has  hitherto  been  expected  from  a 
military  commander  belonging  to  a  civilised  nation.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  plain  that  in  many  cases  German  officers  and 
soldiers  deliberately  added  to  the  sufferings  of  the  unfortunate 
people  whose  property  they  were  destroying. 


OFFENCES   AGAINST   COMBATANTS. 
(a)  The  Killing  of  the  Wounded  and  of  Prisoners. 

In  dealing  with  the  treatment  of  the  wounded  and  of 
prisoners  and  the  cases  in  which  the  former  appear  to  have 
been  killed  when  helpless,  and  the  latter  at,  or  after,  the 
moment  of  capture,  we  are  met  by  some  peculiar  difficulties, 
because  such  acts  may  not  in  all  cases  be  deliberate  and  cold- 
blooded violations  of  the  usages  of  war.  Soldiers  who  are 
advancing  over  a  spot  "where  the  wounded  have  fallen  may 
conceivably  think  that  some  of  those  lying  prostrate  are  sham- 
ming dead,  or,  at  any  rate,  are  so  slightly  wounded  as  to  be 
able  to  attack,  or  to  fire  from  behind  when  the  advancing  force 
has  passed,  and  thus  they  may  be  led  into  killing  those  whom 
they  would  otherwise  have  spared.  There  will  also  be  instances 
in  which  men,  intoxicated  with  the  frenzy  of  battle,  slay  even 
those  whom,  on  reflection,  they  might  have  seen  to  be  incapable 
of  further  harming  them.  The  same  kind  of  fury  may  vent 
itself  on  persons  who  are  already  surrendering  ;  and  even  a 
soldier  who  is  usually  self- controlled  or  humane,  may,  in  the 
heat  of  the  moment,  go  on  killing,  especially  in  a  general  melee, 
those  who  were  offering  to  sui-render.     This  is  most  likely  to 


57 

happen  when  such  a  soklier  has  been  incensed   by  an  act  ol" 
treachery  or  is  stirred  to  revenge  by  the  death  of  a  comrade  to 
whom  he  is  attached.     Some  cases  of  this  kind  appear  in  the 
evidence.     Such  things  happen  in  all  wars  as  isolated  instances, 
and  the  circumstances  may  be  pleaded  in  extenuation  of  acts 
otherwise  shocking.     We  have  made  due  allowance  for  these 
considerations,  and  have  rejected  those  cases  in  which  there  is 
a  reasonable  doubt  as  to  whether  those  who  killed  the  wounded  ^,^\^*'v^i  V' 
knew  that  the  latter  were  completely  disabled.     Nevertheless,    j^  go'  h  3l' 
after  making  all  allowances,  there  remain  certain  instances  in    h  32,'  h  3ii 
which  it  is  clear  that  quarter  was  refused  to  persons  desiring  to        h  36. 
surrender  when  it  ought  to  have  been   given,  or  that  persons 
already  so  wounded  as  to  be  incapable  of  fighting  further  were 
wantonly  shot  or  bayoneted. 

The  cases  to  which  references  are  given  all  present  features 
generally  similar,  and  in  several  of  them  men  who  had  been 
left  wounded  in  the  trenches  when  a  trench  was  carried  by  the 
enemy  were  found,  when  their  comrades  subsequently  re-took 
the  trench,  to  have  been  slaughtered,  although  evidently  help- 
less, or  else  they  would  have  escaped  with  the  rest  of  the 
retreating  force.  For  instance,  a  witness  says  :  "  About  Sep-  h.  23. 
"  tember  the  20th  our  regiment  took  part  in  an  engagement 
"  with  the  Germans.  After  we  had  retired  into  our  trenches  a 
"  few  minutes  after  we  got  back  into  them  the  Germans  retired 
"  into  their  trenches.  The  distance  between  the  trenches  of 
"  the  opposing  forces  was  about  400  yai'ds.  I  should  say  about 
"  50  or  60  of  our  men  had  been  left  lying  on  the  field  from  our 
"  trenches.  After  we  got  back  to  them  I  distinctly  saw  Ger- 
"  man  soldiers  come  out  of  their  trenches,  go  over  the  spots 
"  where  our  men  were  lying,  and  bayoijet  them.  Some  of  our 
"  men  were  lying  nearly  half  way  between  the  trenches." 
Another  says  :  "  The  Germans  advanced  over  the  trenches  of  ^  28. 
"  the  headquarters  trench  where  I  had  been  on  guard  for  three 
"  days.  When  the  Germans  reached  our  wounded  I  saw  their 
"  officer  using  his  sword  to  cut  them  down."  Another  witness  h  '-9. 
says  :  "  Outside  Ypres  we  were  in  trenches  and  were  attacked, 
"  and  had  to  retire  until  reinforced  by  other  companies  of  the 
"  Royal  Fusiliers.  Then  we  took  the  trenches  and  found  the 
"  wounded,  between  20  and  30,  lying  in  the  trenches  with 
"  bayonet  wounds,  and  some  shot.  Most  of  them,  say  three 
"  quarters,  had  their  throats  cut." 

In  one  case,  given  very  circumstantially,  a  witness  tells  how  a  ^  18. 
party  of  wounded  British  soldiers  were  left  in  a  chalk  pit,  all  very 
badly  hui't,  and  quite  unable  to  make  resistance.  One  of  them, 
an  officer,  held  up  his  handkerchief  as  a  white  flag,  and  this 
"  attracted  the  attention  of  a  party  of  about  eight  Germans. 
"  The  Germans  came  to  the  edge  of  the  pit.  It  was  getting 
'■  dusk,  but  the  light  was  still  good,  and  everything  clearly 
"  discernible.  One  of  them,  who  appeared  to  be  carrying  no 
"  arms,  and  who,  at  any  rate,   had  no  rifle,  came  a  few  feet 


"  down  the  slope  inio  [\[c  chalk  pil,  within  eight  or  ten  yanls 
"  of  some  ol"  the  wounded  men."  He  looked  at  the  men, 
laughed,  and  said  sonn^hing  in  (ierman  to  the  (iei'mans  avIio 
were  waiting  on  the  edge  of  the  pit.  Jnnnediately  one  of  them 
lirecl  at  tlie  officer,  then  lliree  or  four  of  these  ten  sohliers  were 
shot,  then  another  olhcei-,  and  the  witness,  and  the  rest  of  them. 
"After  an  interval  of  some  time  I  sat  up  and  found  that  I  was 
"  the  only  man  of  the  ten  avIio  were  living  when  the  (lermans 
"  came  into  the  pit  remaining  alive,  and  that  all  the  rest  were 
"  dead." 
h  ^-  Another    witness    describes    a    painful    ease  in    which    five 

soldiers,  two  Belgians  and  three  French,  Avere  tied  to  trees  by 
(Ierman  soldiers  apparently  drunk,  who  stuck  knivt^s  in  their 
faces,  pricked  them  wdth  their  bayonets,  and  ultimately  shot 
them. 

We  have  no  evidence  to  show  wliether  and  in  wdiat  easels 
orders  proceeded  from  the  oilicer  in  command  to  give  no 
quarter,  but  there  are  some  instances  in  which  persons  obviously 
desiring  to  surrender  were  nevertheless  killed. 

(h)  Firing  on  Hospitals  or  on  the  Bed  Cross  AnihuJrtnccs  or 
St  retell  er-hearers. 

This  subject  may  conveniently  be  divided  into  three  sub- 
divisions, namely,  firing  on — 

(1)  Hospital  buildings  and  other  Red  Cross  establishments. 

(2)  Ambulances. 

(3)  Stretcher-bearers. 

Under  the  first  and  second  categories  their  is  obvious  dilli- 
culty  in  proving  intention,  especially  under  the  conditions  of 
modern  long  range  artillery  fire.  A  commanding  officer's 
duty  is  to  give  strict  orders  to  respect  hospitals,  ambulances, 
&c.,  and  also  to  place  Red  Cross  units  as  far  away  as  possible 
from  any  legitimate  line  of  fire.  But  with  all  care  some  acci- 
dents must  happen,  and  many  reported  cases  wall  be  ambiguous. 
At  the  same  time  wdien  military  observers  have  formed  a 
distinct  opinion  that  buildings  and  persons  imder  the  recog- 
nisable ])rotection  of  the  Red  Cross  were  wilfully  fired  upon, 
such  opinions  cannot  be  disregarded. 

BetAveen  30  and  40  of  ^the  depositions  submitted  related  to 
this  offence.     This  number  does  not  in  itself  seem  so  great  as 
to  be  inconsistent  with  the  possibility  of  accident, 
li  1!'  In  one  case  a  Red  Cross  Depot  was  shelled  on  most  days 

rf.  h  40        throughout   the  week.      This   is  hardly  reconcilable  wdth  the 
enemy's  gunners  having  taken  any  care  to  avoid  it, 

h  o8.  h  44.  There  are  other  cases  of  conspicuous  hospitals  being  shelled, 

h  47.  h  49.    ij^  ti^g  witnesses'  opinion,  purposely. 

li  S8  ?rt)  ^'^  ^"^  '^^  these  the  witness,  a  sergeant-major,  makes  a  sug- 

gestion which  appears  plausible,  namely,  that  the  German 
gunners  use  any  conspicuous  building  as  a  mark  to  verify  their 
ranges  rather  than  for  the  purpose  of  destruction.     It  would  be 


59 

quite  according  to  the  luodern  system  of  wliat  (Jerman  writers 
call  Krieqsr'dson  to  hold  that  the  convenience  of  range-finding 
is  a  suflicient  military  necessity  to  justify  disregarding  any 
iumuinity  conferred  on  a  buihiiug  by  the  Red  Cross  or  other- 
wise. h\  any  case,  artilleiy  fire  on  a  liospital  at  such  a 
moderate  range  as  about  1,000  yards  eau  liardly  be  thought 
accidental. 

{-)  As  to    firing  on     ambulances,     the    evidence    is    more  li  45 

explicit.  ^  51, 

In  one  case  the  Avitness  is  (luite  clear  that  the  ambulances      ^^d  see 
wereaunedat.  Professor 

In  another  case  of  firing  at   an   ambulance  train   the  range      Morgan's 
was  quite  short.  statements. 

In  another  a   Belgian  Red  C'l-oss  party  is  stated  to  liave  been  Appendix  E. 
ambushed. 

On  the  whole  we  do  not  find  proof  of  a  general  or  systematic 
firing  on  hospitals  or  ambnlances ;  but  it  is  not  j>ossible  to 
l)elieve  tiiat  mnch  care  was  taken  to  avoid  this. 

(.■j)  As  to  firing  on  stretcher-bearers  in  the  course  of  trench     h  40.  h  41. 
warfare,  the  testimony  is  abundant,  and   the  facts  do  not  seem 
explicable  by  accident.     It  may  be  that  sometimes  ihe  bearers        ^  ^^• 
wei-e   snspected   of  seeing  too  much  ;  and  it  is  plain  from  the 
general  military  policy  of  the  (Jerman  arniies  that  very  slight 
suspicion  Avould  be  acted  on  in  case  of  doubt. 

{c)  Abuse  of  the  Red  Cross  and  of  the  White  Flag. 

The  Red  Cross. 

Cases    of    the    Red     Cross    being    abused    are    raucli    more         h  56. 
definite. 

There  are  several  accounts  of  fire  being  opened,  sometimes    li  59.  h  60. 
at  very  short  range,  b}'  machine  guns  which  had  been  disguised 
in  a  German  Red  Cross  ambulance  or  car ;  this  Avas  aggravated    h  »U,  h  65. 
in  one  case  near  Tirlemont  by  the   German  soldiers  Avearing 
Belgian  uniform. 

Witness  speaks  also  of  a  stretcher  party  Avith  the  Red  Cross        h  58. 
being  used  to  cover  an  attack,  and  of  a  German  Red  Cross  man 
Avorking  a  machine  gun. 

There  is  also  a  Avell-attested  case  of  a  Red  Cross  motor  car 
being  used  to  carry  ammunition  under  command  of  officers. 

Unless  all  these  statements  are  wilfully  false,  Avhich  the 
Committee  sees  no  reason  to  believe,  these  acts  must  have  been 
deliberate,  and  it  does  not  seem  possible  that  a  Red  Cross  car 
could  be  equipped  with  a  machine  gun  by  soldiers  acting 
without  orders.  There  is  also  one  case  of  firing  from  a  cottage 
where  the  Red  Cross  flag  Avas  flying,  and  this  could  not  be 
accidental. 

On  the  AA'hole,  there  is  distinct  evidence  of  the  Red  Cross 
having  been  deliberately  misused  for  offensiA^e  purposes,  and 
seemingly  under  orders,  on  some,  though  not  many,  occasions. 


60 

Al)nso  o[  tlio  Wliite  Flag. 

Cases  ol  this  kind  are  nuiuerous.     It  is  possible  that  a  small 

group  of  men  may  sliow  a  Wliite  Flag  without  authority  from 

any  i)roper  oflicor,  in  which  case  their  action  is,  of  course,  not 

h  7l\  h  7:>.     binding  on  the  rest  of  the  platoon  or  other  unit.     But  this  will 

h  tjT,  h  77.     not  apply    to   the    case  of  a   whole    unit    advancmg  as    if   to 

' "'     ^'"'    surrender,  or   letting   the    other  side   advance   to    receive  the 

pretended  surrender,  and  then  opening  fire.     Under  this  head 

we  lind  many   depositions  hy  British  sohliers  and  several  by 

oflicers.     In   some  cases  the   firing  was  from  a  machine  gun 

brought  up  under  cover  of  the  White  Flag. 

The    depositions   taken    by   Pi'ofessor    Morgan    in    France 
strongly  corroborate  the  evidence  collected  in  this  country. 
h  70.  The   case   numbered  h  70  may  be  noted    as    very  clearly 

stated.  The  Germans,  who  had  "put  iip  a  white  flag  on  a 
lance  and  ceased  fire,"  and  thereby  induced  a  company  to 
advance  in  order  to  take  them  prisoners,  "  dropped  the  white 
flag  and  opened  fire  at  a  distance  of  100  yards."  This  was  near 
Nesle,  on  September  the  6th,  1914.  It  seems  clearly  proved 
that  in  some  divisions  at  least  of  the  German  army  this  practice 
is  very  conmion.  The  incidents  as  reported  cannot  be  explained 
by  unauthorised  surrenders  of  small  groups. 

There  is,  in  our  opinion,  sufficient  evidence  that  ihese 
offences  have  been  frequent,  deliberate,  and  in  many  cases 
committed  by  whole  units  under  orders.  All  the  acts  mentioned 
in  this  part  of  the  Repcirt  are  in  contravention  of  the  Hague 
Convention,  signed  by  the  Great  Powers,  including  France, 
Germany,  Great  Britain,  and  the  United  States,  in  1907,  as 
may  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  Appendix  D.,  in  which  the 
piovisions  of  that  Convention  relating  to  the  conduct  of  war  on 
land  are  set  forth. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

From  the  foregoing  pages  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Committee 
have  ccmie    to  a   definite  conclusion  iipon  each  of   the   heads 
under  which  the  evidence  has  been  classified. 
It  is  proved — 

(i)  That  there  were  in  many  parts  of  Belgium  deliberate 
and  systematically  organised  massacres  of  the  civil 
population,  accompanied  by  many  isolated  murders 
and  other  outrages, 
(ii)  That  in  the  conduct  of  the  war  generally  innocent 
civilians,  both  men  and  women,  were  murdered 
in  large  numbers,  women  violated,  and  children 
murdered, 
(iii)  That  looting,  house  burning,  and  the  wanton  des- 
truction of  property  were  ordered  and  countenanced 
by  the  officers  of  the  (Jerman  Army,  tliat  elaborate 
provision  had  been  made  for  systematic  incendi- 
arism at  tJie  very  outbreak  of  the  war,  and  that 


I 


61  • 

tlie  burnings  and  destruction  were  frequent  where 
no  military  necessity  could  he  alleged,  being 
indeed  part  of  a  system  of  general  terrorization. 
(,iv)  That  the  rules  and  usages  of  war  were  frequeatly 
broken,  particularly  by  the  using  of  civilians, 
including  women  and  children,  as  a  shield  for 
advancing  forces  exposed  to  lire,  to  a  less  degree 
by  killing  the  wounded  and  j)risoners,  and  in  the 
frequent  abuse  of  the  Red  Cross  and  the  White 
Flag. 

Sensible  as  they  are  of  the  gravity  of  these  conclusions,  the 
Committee  conceive  that  they  would  be  doing  less  than  their 
duty  if  they  failed  to  record  them  as  fully  established  by  the 
evidence.  Murder,  lust,  and  pillage  prevailed  over  many  parts 
of  Belgium  on  a  scale  unparalleled  in  any  war  between  civilised 
nations  during  the  last  three  centuries. 

Our  function  is  ended  when  we  have  stated  what  the 
evidence  establishes,  but  we  may  be  permitted  to  express  our 
belief  that  these  disclosures  will  not  have  been  made  in  vain 
if  they  touch  and  rouse  the  conscience  of  mankind,  and  we 
venture  to  hope  that  as  soon  as  the  present  w^ar  is  over,  the 
nations  of  the  world  in  council  will  consider  what  means  can  be 
provided  and  sanctions  devised  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
such  horrors  as  our  generation  is  now  witnessing. 

We  are,  &c., 
BRYCE. 
F.  POLLOCK. 
EDWARD  CLARKE. 
KENELM  E.  DIGBY. 
ALFRED  HOPKINSON. 
H.  A.  L.  FISHER, 
HAROLD  COX. 


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